Wrong Man at the Right Time
by RangerLuv2
Summary: One day everything is normal and the next day Stephanie is getting married - to Lester! What? They weren't even dating. Everyone knows something is wrong, but no one knows what it is. How does Ranger react when he hears the news? Despite the way it starts, this is a BABE story with a BABE HEA. I'll try to update often since the chapters are not that long. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

Any character you recognize belongs to JE. Not mine. Not making any money from this. Just enjoy the hobby of writing.

Lester's POV

Everyone knows that life can change in the blink of an eye, but when those moments actually present themselves, we're hardly ever prepared for them.

I was sitting at my desk at Rangeman, helping Rodriguez get caught up on some searches. It seems like there are a million of them these days, and even with Steph helping out part time, it still seems like there are always more waiting to be run.

Normally, I'm a pretty cheerful guy, but today, these pesky searches are bringing me down. I hate being confined to a desk and everyone knows it. It's not like I'm the only one who hates it though, so I have to help out when and where I can.

At the moment, I don't have a skip to bring in, so desk duty is what I'm stuck with. It could be worse. I could be on monitor duty. The thought made me shiver. I'm looking forward to the skip Bobby and I are scheduled to pick up this evening at 5 PM. We have to go down near Stark Street, but I don't care. Anything to get me away from this cubicle.

I was running a search on a guy named Clint Higgens when my desk phone rang. "Santos," I said in a flat tone. I listened to the person on the other end of the phone and then asked them to repeat some of the information. I asked a few questions and wrote down the name and number of the lawyer I was told I needed to call. I hung up the phone and sat in stunned silence. It was one of those moments where my life was going to change in the blink of an eye. In more ways than one.

It was almost lunch time, but I let Tank know I needed to leave early to take care of something personal.

"Everything okay, man?" he asked with a frown.

No doubt he was wondering what was so important that it couldn't wait fifteen more minutes.

"Yeah, everything's cool," I told him, giving him a thumbs up on my way out of his office.

Once I was in my apartment on the fourth floor, I wasted no time dialing the number of a lawyer named Trip Herzog. After listening for two or three minutes to some god-awful recorded music, Mr. Herzog finally picked up. I identified myself and I told him why I was calling.

Nearly fifteen minutes later, I hung up the phone with a shaking hand. It seems a distant aunt of mine, one I've only met a couple of times, has died and left me her fortune. A large fortune, as in 40 million dollars. I should be ecstatic, right? Not that I'm glad she's dead, but the fact is, she's dead, and I hardly knew her. The last time I saw her I was eight or nine years old. The money was one way in which my life was changing in the blink of an eye. There was a catch though and it was a very big catch.

My aunt, the lawyer told me, was fond of manipulating people and before she died, she made plans to manipulate me. In order for me to collect the 40 million dollars, I needed to be married. If not married on the day of her death, I had two weeks to find a wife and get married. I had to remain married for one year after the date of my wedding. And, I couldn't tell anyone that my marriage was a hoax. If my bride and I manage to make it through the year without either of us telling anyone the true reason we got married, there would be a 10 million dollar bonus waiting for me. Mr. Herzog reluctantly admitted to me that my aunt had kept tabs on me over the years and knew very well that I was single. This was, apparently, her idea of a prank. Except that she was dead serious. Or serious and dead. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

Obviously, I have some problems I need to find solutions for. Not because I can't find someone to marry in two weeks time. I don't mean to brag, but I know at least a dozen women who would marry me even without the incentive of 40 million dollars. I also know a couple dozen more hot women that would gladly throw their garter belt into the ring with a money incentive that big.

The first problem is, I don't want to get married. Actually, the idea of marriage doesn't really scare me the way it used to. I just don't want to get married on demand. The second problem is, I don't really trust any of the women I've dated enough to marry them. Not under these circumstances. Problem number three is, what if the woman I marry refuses to let me out of the marriage after the year is up? Problem number four is, what if the woman I marry decides to spend the entire 40 million within a year, just because she knows I'll be divorcing her after that?

My stomach rumbled a bit, reminding me that it's lunch time. I left my apartment and took the stairs to the garage. I hopped into my SUV and turned left as I exited the garage. My mind was furiously going over the names of every female I could remember having contact with over the past few years, but no one I could think of that I'd dated or slept with would be right for what I need. I need someone I like, someone I can trust, someone I can stand living with for a year. As I got to the light at the corner, I heard a horn toot and looked to my left. Steph was passing me, headed toward Rangeman. She smiled and gave me a finger wave as she drove past.

_Holy cow_, I thought to myself. The one woman in the world I like, trust and could stand living with for a year just passed me on her way to work. Somehow, I was going to have to talk Miss Stephanie Plum into marrying me and becoming Mrs. Lester Santos.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Stephanie's POV**

I hung up the phone and made a beeline for the freezer even though I was pretty sure there wasn't enough Ben & Jerry's in the world to help this problem. I'd just hung up from talking to my sister, Val. She had terrible news. Her husband, Albert, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. They just received the results earlier today. The diagnosis alone was scary, but what was almost just as scary was the news that they no longer have health insurance.

Albert is a lawyer, but he doesn't have a very big practice. He's not exactly known as the cream of the crop when it comes to attorneys and sometimes business is very slow. Val confessed that a few months ago they were having financial problems and had let their insurance policy lapse. She didn't want to tell our parents because they'd throw a fit if they knew their granddaughters were uninsured.

I talked to her on the phone for quite awhile, trying to help her calm down. I told her that somehow I'd help her figure out what to do. In reality, I had no idea how to help her. If I had the money, I'd give it to them in a heartbeat, but the couple thousand dollars I had in my savings account wouldn't make a dent in the cost of cancer treatment.

I grabbed a spoon from the drawer and dug into the carton of ice cream with a vengeance. The more I thought about what Albert and Val were going through, the angrier I got and when I get angry and can't think of a solution, I get frustrated. When I get frustrated, I cry. Damn it. I could feel a couple teardrops trickle down my cheeks before I could stop them.

I needed to get a grip. Albert was the one with cancer, not me. I needed to hold back the tears because they were just not helpful. I needed to keep my wits about me and try to think of a way to help them.

I groaned when there was a knock at my door and wondered who it was. My ex boyfriend, Joe, was seeing someone else, so I knew it wouldn't be him. Ranger never knocks, he just picks the lock and slips in.

When the second knock came, I sighed and tossed the ice cream carton and spoon on the counter so hard, the clanging of the spoon startled my hamster, Rex. I apologized to my little buddy, then went to the door and looked through the peephole. Oh, Lester! My mind was so scrambled from thinking about Albert and Val that I forgot Lester had called earlier and asked if he could stop by after he and Bobby picked up their skip. He said he needed help with something and that I was the only one who could help him. I sure hoped his problem was less complicated than the one that was already straining my brain.

I opened the door and smiled in spite of my somber mood. As down as I was feeling, just one look at Lester's gorgeous face and sexy smile made me relax and feel a bit better. "Hey, Lester," I said, stepping aside for him to enter. "How's it going?"

"Hey, Beautiful," Lester returned my greeting. He grabbed me around the waist and twirled me around before slowly settling my feet back down on the floor. He looked at my face when he released me and I saw a frown quickly flash across his face. "Steph, what's wrong?"

"How do you know something is wrong, Les?" I knew I'd only cried a few tears. It's not like my face would be red or my eyes would be swollen.

"Beautiful, I can sense a damsel in distress from 200 yards away," Lester joked. "And, I almost always have the cure for what ails her," he added with a wink.

"Almost always?" I asked with a grin. "Is the great playboy, Lester Santos, selling himself short? Never thought I'd see the day." I motioned for him to take a seat in the living room. "Would you like a beer?"

"I'd love a beer," he told me as he headed for the couch. "And, I'm not selling myself short. I guess I should have said that I always have what they need, but contrary to popular opinion, I'm not always willing to give it."

He flashed me another brilliant smile and I saw the teasing twinkle in his emerald green eyes. The man was bone melting gorgeous. "Even I have standards," he informed me with a goofy smile.

I fetched two beers from the kitchen, handed one to Lester, then took a seat next to him on the couch. "So, Lester, what was it you wanted to talk to me about? You sounded really serious on the phone and that's just not like you. Did your take-down go okay tonight?"

"First you have to tell me what's bothering _you_, Beautiful. And don't tell me nothing. I can always tell when something has you tied up in knots, Steph, and I'm not telling you my problem until you tell me yours. Oh, and the take-down went fine and Stark Street is lovely this time of year. Not!"

I grinned at his description of Start Street, then took a long swallow of my beer, relishing the numbing coldness of it as it slid down my throat. It was really more of a delay tactic though. I needed to take a moment to ponder how much I should tell Lester about what was happening with Albert and Val. Val hadn't given me permission to discuss it with anyone. She only asked me not to say anything to our parents yet.

I rested my beer bottle on my knee and turned a bit so I could see Lester's face a bit better. "Okay, I'll tell you, but only if you promise to keep it to yourself."

Lester didn't answer right away. He seemed to be having some kind of internal debate. "Steph, if you're in danger or have another stalker, I can't promise I'll keep it to myself. If I need to tell Ranger or bring in some of the other guys at Rangeman to help keep you safe, I will."

I waved my hand in a dismissive gesture. "Nah, I don't have another stalker and I'm not in danger. This isn't about me. It's a family matter. A serious one that I don't have a solution for. Really, there's nothing you can do to help, Lester, besides listen."

He nodded his head. "Okay, well, I'm a good listener, so start spilling the beans, girlfriend. I won't repeat a word of it."

I took a deep breath, then another long pull on my beer. Finally, I cleared my throat and began. "I got a call from my sister, Val, tonight. Her husband, Albert, has prostate cancer. And, if that isn't bad enough, they have no health insurance."

"Yikes," Lester said with a grimace. "That's a tough one. What are they going to do?"

"I don't know. That's the problem. Val called me looking for advice, but I didn't know what to tell her. The surgery and treatment will cost more than Albert makes in a year. They can't get a loan and I just don't have the money to help them. I stumped on where to go from here."

Lester was quiet for a long time, but I could tell it wasn't because he wasn't interested in what we were discussing. I could sense the wheels turning in his mind and wondered if he was going over some possible solutions or helpful resources in his mind.

Finally, he locked his eyes on mine. "Steph, I have a way to help, but you're not necessarily going to like it. It ties into the reason I needed to see you tonight. I need help with something big, and if you help me, you'll automatically be able to help Val and Albert."

I felt my forehead wrinkle. "How will me helping you, help me to be able to help Val and Albert? That was a bit of a tongue twister, wasn't it?" I noted with a grin.

Lester laughed. "Yeah, but wait until you hear how twisted my idea is. It'll make your tongue twister seem smooth as silk in comparison."

"I have no idea what you're getting at, Lester, so why don't you just throw it out there?"

Lester put his beer bottle down on the table and leaned closer to me. He reached out his left hand and gently gathered a handful of my hair, then let his fingers glide through the curls all the way to the ends. "Beautiful, I want ... I need you ... to marry me."


	3. Chapter 3

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Not mine. Characters belong to JE. I'm just having fun. Not making any money.**

_Lester put his beer bottle down on the table and leaned closer to me. He reached out his left hand and gently gathered a handful of my hair, then let his fingers glide through the curls all the way to the ends. "Beautiful, I want ... I need you ... to marry me."_

**Chapter 3 - Steph's POV**

I started laughing and Lester pulled back quickly. "My god, Lester, you could win an Academy Award for that performance. I'm not kidding. You sounded totally, 100 percent serious. Now is not the time to joke around though. We have problems to solve."

Lester bit his lower lip for a moment, then released it. "Beautiful, I'm dead serious. I need you to marry me and we have less than two weeks to make it legal."

I looked at his eyes then. I mean really looked at them, then sucked in a breath. Holy shit, he was serious. What in the world could he be thinking? "Lester, I don't understand."

"I know." He rose from the couch and headed to the kitchen. "I'll grab us a couple more beers and explain everything."

A minute later, he yelled from the kitchen. "Do you know your refrigerator is almost empty?"

"Yeah, it's like that a lot," I yelled back. "Sometimes it's because I'm broke, sometimes it's because I'm unorganized and sometimes it's just because I'm too tired or lazy to stop at the store after work."

He came back in the room with two open bottles of Corona. "At least you have beer," he said with a grin.

"I have my priorities straight," I told him, returning his grin with one of my own. I took the bottle he held out to me and waited for him to settle back into his previous spot on the couch.

"I can also help with the food and the organizing and with keeping a refrigerator full, " he informed me. "I'm already good at all those things."

"Are you trying to sell yourself as husband material, Lester?"

"Yeah, I guess I am. Here's the deal, Steph, my aunt died and left me forty million dollars."

"Oh, Les, I'm sorry. Were you close to her?"

"No, not at all. I haven't seen her since I was a little kid."

"Well, nevertheless, I'm sorry to hear she died, but you must be stunned about the money, eh?"

"Yeah. I had no idea. Didn't see this coming, at all," he told me. "I got a phone call earlier today and had to get in contact with an attorney in Phoenix. He explained to me that there are conditions that have to be met in order for me to get the money." He paused then and shifted his eyes to his beer bottle and then back to me.

That's when I started to put the pieces together. "So, in order to get the money, you have to be married and you want me to marry you?"

"That about sums it up."

We were both quiet for several minutes, alternating from staring at each other to looking away when the enormity of the situation threatened to overwhelm us, then back to staring.

"Lester, listen," I began carefully. I can appreciate that you'd go to great lengths for forty million dollars. I mean, who wouldn't? But marriage can't be about money, you know that. It has to have a foundation of ..."

"It's only for a year," he interrupted me. "I only have to stay married for a year. Let me tell you what I have in mind."

I really couldn't think of any circumstance in which I'd marry Lester, but I also wouldn't stop him from laying out his case. "Okay, give me the details," I said warily.

Lester grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Okay, but hear me out before you give any kind of answer."

I nodded.

"I actually had something partially planned out when I showed up at your door. Now that you've told me about Val and Albert, I see a way to help them too. If you agree to marry me, like I said, it would have to been done in less than two weeks and we'd have to stay together for one year."

He took a long swallow of his beer and continued. "We would split the money so we'd each have 20 million."

I started to interrupt but he held up a hand to stop me. "You said you'd hear me through."

I nodded for him to continue.

"What I would do, is transfer 18 million to you and 2 million to Val and Albert. I'd set it up so they didn't know where the money came from. You could just tell them you found a source that was willing to help. The secrecy would be because we can't tell anyone that the marriage is a hoax. No one can know we got married to get the money. We have to let people think this is the real thing." He paused and then said, "I'm not done, but what do you think, so far?"

"I'm stunned, Lester. I can certainly see the urgent to get married, but why me?"

"Steph, it's obvious to me, but I'll spell it out for you. I like you, care about you, trust you and enjoy being around you. You're beautiful, a lot of fun, and as it turns out, you need to help your sister and her husband. But, the biggest factor is the trust I mentioned. I don't trust any other woman I know not to try to spend the whole 40 million or to not get angry about something and run her mouth about the reason we got married. I also need to know the person will let me out of the marriage once the year is up."

I nodded my head that I understood, but was having trouble forming another sentence.

"Steph, can you tell me what you're thinking?"

I made an effort to gather my thoughts. "For one thing, I can't take the 20 million."

"Yes, you can. And you will," Lester said confidently.

"What makes you say that?" I demanded. Nothing could get under my skin faster than someone telling me what I had to do.

"Your sister needs it," he said softly. "I know I'm kind of an ass to use that to put pressure on you, but it's true. I'd offer it myself, but I can't get the money without a wife. If we do this, it can benefit both of us, plus Albert and Val. Obviously, we'll have to talk about this more and iron out the details. We'll both get to set some ground rules. The thing is, we don't have a lot of time."

"Tell me about these ground rules," I asked him. I couldn't believe I was even considering what he was asking me to do, but everyone knows I'm the most curious person in Trenton and I had to know what he was thinking.

"Well, for one thing, there's the money. I won't budge on the 50/50 split. Also, I insist on only 2 million going to Albert and Val at first. If they need more later, we'll help them. But, I know how you are. If I let you, you'd probably just give them the whole 20 million."

I felt a blush crawl over my face. I had been thinking exactly that and now I was busted.

Lester laughed. "Steph, I know how you are and that's one of the main reasons I'm choosing you to marry, if you'll do it. But, I insist you put the 18 million in your own account and think long and hard before you do anything with it. What if something happens next month with your Grandma that Medicare won't cover? What if Lula calls you in a couple months and needs emergency gallbladder surgery or her appendix ruptures? I'm pretty sure Lula doesn't have insurance either. If you give all your money away right off the bat, you won't have any left to help other people when the need arises."

"Okay. I can see the sense in that. I know I'm pretty impulsive and it drives me crazy when someone needs help and I can't provide it. What other ground rules?"

Lester sighed. "I don't know, really, but we'll need to decide where we're going to live. We need to have a story about what exactly we're going to tell our families and friends about how this suddenly came about when we weren't even dating. And, well, I figured we need to talk about sex. If we're going to be living together and not having sex, we'll both probably go crazy, but it's not like either of us can be seen out in public dating other people after we get married."

"Yeah, I can see that being a little complicated," I agreed with him. "Not that I go out to bars picking people up for sex the way you do," I teased him.

"True," he agreed. "For you, it'll mean no more make-out sessions with Ranger in the alley by the bond office."

"Omigod, Ranger!" I exclaimed.

I saw Lester's face cloud over. "I wasn't really sure where things stand between the two of you, Beautiful. Is Ranger a deal breaker?"

I swallowed hard and tried to take a few deep breaths to calm the pounding of my heart. Finally, I answered him. "Nothing is going on with Ranger. Joe and I have been apart for four months and Ranger hasn't made a move. I guess that's all I need to know about that."

My cell phone rang and I rolled my eyes at the interruption, but grabbed it off the coffee table to look at the Caller ID. It was Val, so looked I at Lester and said, "It's Val. I need to take this."

"Hey, Val," I greeted her when I opened my phone. She was crying so hard I could barely understand her. My eyes filled with tears just listening to her level of distress over the phone. When she finally paused to take a breath, I said, "Val, listen. I found a way to help. Can you hold on for just one minute?"

Val choked out that she would hold and I covered the mouthpiece to talk to Lester. "How soon can we get married and get the money?"

Lester didn't even look surprised. "We can get married tonight or tomorrow, if we want to. I'll take some emergency personal days at Rangeman. We can hop a late flight to Vegas and get married at one of the chapels. Once I fax the marriage certificate to the lawyer, Mr. Herzog, he'll verify the information and wire the money within 48 hours."

I nodded and turned my attention back to Val. "Val, listen. I figured out a way to get the money and I'll have it in just a few days."

Val was stunned at first, then asked me how I was going to get the money. "A friend is helping me, Val, but that's all you need to know. I don't want you and Albert to spend one more minute worrying about the money. It won't have to be paid back either, so you two just concentrate on getting the right help for Albert, okay?"

I spent another couple minutes on the phone with Val and my eyes teared up again at her expressions of thankfulness. She was overwhelmed and I could hear the relief in her voice.

Once I hung up, I looked at Lester. "I guess we need to pack and get this thing done."

"Are you sure?" Steph.

"Yes and no," I told him honestly. "But mostly yes. Are you sure, Lester?"

He laughed. "Yes and no, but mostly yes. I'm sure that if I'm going to go through with this, it would only be with you."

I nodded. "Okay, well I guess we need airline tickets and we need to pack."

Lester stood up. "Right. I'll head home to pack and call the airlines from my car. As soon as I know what time we're leaving, I'll call you. You can go ahead and pack and I'll pick you up later. Pack enough for about 3 days, if you want. That way, if we need to, we can stay a couple extra days to make sure we have all the details worked out before we come back here. What do you want to do with Rex?"

"I was just trying to think of what to do with Rex. I don't want to leave him with my parents because I'm not ready to explain where I'm going and why. Normally, I could ask Val, but she has enough on her mind."

"I could drop him in the break room at Rangeman on my way home," Les offered.

"Are you sure that would be okay?"

"Heck yeah, the guys love stuff like that. They've watched over him in the past, right?"

"True," I agreed. I went to the kitchen and put his box of hamster nuggets in a bag. "Thanks, Les."

"No need to thank me," Beautiful." He picked up Rex's cage and the bag of nuggets. "I'll call you soon," he said on his way to the door.

"Wait," I said in a bit of a panic. "What about the other ground rules?"

Lester grinned. "I guess we'll have to hope we have a little privacy on the flight. We can also discuss it on our way to the airport and after we get there, if we need too."

I bit my lower lip and nodded.

"Steph, I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do. Well, except for marrying me," he said with a laugh.

I looked at his gorgeous tanned face, sparkling, mischievous green eyes and killer smile. The man is sexier than almost anyone I know. "I can think of worse things than temporarily being married to you, Lester Santos. Now get going so I can pack."

"And I can hardly think of anything better than being temporarily married to you, Beautiful," he said, giving me a wink on his way out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

Not mine, all characters except Trip Herzog and Stella belong to JE. I'm just writing for the fun of it. Not making any money.

Chapter 4 - Ranger's POV

I used the remote control to turn off the TV and sat in silence for a few moments. I was struggling to figure out what was wrong with me lately. Take tonight, for example. I'd been clicking through the channels looking for something interesting to distract my mind and inexplicably found myself watching the last fifteen minutes of Pretty Woman.

What's up with that? I never willingly watch chick flicks. The few times I've watched one have been with Stephanie and I'd only watched them because she'd pop one into her DVD player while I was in her apartment. And, rather than leave her alone to watch her movie, I'd sit next to her on the couch, close enough so that our thighs were touching. Close enough that I could put an arm around her shoulders and enjoy the scent of her hair and the scent of her soft skin.

Chick flicks can't pull me in, but the presence and beauty and scent of Stephanie can tug at my body and soul the way nothing else can. Even her attitude, which drives her family crazy, turns me on. She's stubborn and willful and once she starts something, she demonstrates a tenacity that can't be rivaled. It's a dogged determination that makes her stick with something until she accomplishes her goal.

Once she's on a case, nothing can stop her from pursuing her goal of bringing in her assigned FTA. While part of me wishes she'd choose a line of work other than being a bounty hunter, another part of me never fails to get turned on as I watch her work through the process of bringing in her skips.

Nothing can deter her. She's faced killers and mob bosses and thugs dressed as rabbits. She's faced snakes and spiders and a dead body on her couch. In each and every case, she got her man. Maybe not as quickly and gracefully as she would have liked, but no one can argue with her stellar success rate.

The big down side, of course, is the danger involved in what she does. At my security company, Rangeman, we also bring in skips, but we are all trained professionals. Stephanie is not trained, is not in very good shape, hates carrying a gun and flies by the seat of her pants. Her greatest asset, aside from her determination, is her perfectly tuned gut instinct that turns out never to be wrong. It always makes me smile, or at least think about smiling, when I think about how she and my men refer to it as her Spidey sense.

The problem is, even though she has that great Spidey sense, it sometimes puts her in more danger rather than serving as a means of protection. She'll get a gut feeling about something and instead of making a well thought out plan and calling for backup, she'll charge ahead, sometimes not even arming herself with her gun. More than once or twice she's thrown herself into a dangerous situation armed with nothing more than a can of mace and a pair of cuffs. Once in a while she'll have a stun gun with her and sometimes it's even charged.

I blew out a breath that was frighteningly close to a sigh and went to the kitchen where I grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, then made my way to the bathroom. I drained the Corona in three swallows and put the empty bottle on the counter, then stripped out of my clothes. When I looked in the full length mirror I noticed the faint stress lines etched across my forehead and instantly knew why they were there.

Part of me, something deep inside, was rebelling against the hard and fast rule I'd made about keeping Stephanie out of my life. Part of me still believed it was necessary, but another part, dare I say, my heart, was itching, no, it was demanding, to throw caution to the wind and declare my love for her. Dios! Did I just think the word love? I really needed to tamp down that thought, but the sudden hard-on that presented itself at the hint of Steph and love in the same thought was undeniably reflected back at me in the mirror.

There was no way I could allow her into my life or allow myself to be more drawn into hers than I already was. She was a magnet for danger on her own. Adding my own past to her ability to get into trouble would be downright frightening. As much as I wanted to be more to her than just a friend, I knew it wasn't an option I was willing to explore.

I'll always be here for her, that goes without saying. I'll aways do everything in my power to make sure she is safe and to bail her out when she gets in over her head. I couldn't stop watching over her if I wanted to and I don't want to.

I groaned at the thought of another cold shower. It was either that or take care of the problem myself. I swear, if I had a dollar for every hard on that woman has given me, I wouldn't need Rangeman for income.

I spent another moment trying to decide between a cold shower or a hot shower and a hand job, when I was interrupted by the ringing of my cell phone. I grabbed my phone from the counter and glanced at the Caller ID. It was one of my informants who works near Stark Street. My hard-on started to wane. Well, at least that problem was taken care of.

"Yo," I said as soon as I flipped open my phone.

"Ranger, this is Stella. I need to see you as soon as possible."

"Concerning what, Stella?" I was curious because I hadn't spoken to her in quite some time and certainly hadn't asked her for any information lately.

Stella is a self proclaimed psychic. I've never quite made up my mind about whether or not I believe in psychics, but I know there is something out there in the universe. Stella has produced seemingly unattainable information for me on more than one occasion. And then there's Steph's Spidey sense. How can you explain something like that if there isn't a way to pick up information previously unknown to you without someone directly telling you?

"It's personal, Ranger."

"Are you in danger?" I quickly asked her?

"No. I'm fine. It's personal information about you and your life. Something you need to know."

I almost sighed. Truthfully, I would have been more comfortable if she said she was in danger or that I was in danger. Danger I know how to deal with. Personal information about myself was not up for discussion. Still, if she knew or heard something about me that needed to be dealt with, then I had no choice but to allow her to explicate.

"What personal information?"

"You need to come see me," Stalla informed me. "I need to see your face or touch your hand to confirm the information and to see any other details that might come up."

"Stella, I don't think ..."

"Ranger," she interrupted. "It's about your woman, the bounty hunter."

My back stiffened and I felt a cold chill spread over my body. I wasn't sure if it was because of what Stella said or because I was still standing in the middle of my bathroom, naked.

"When and where?" I asked her.

"My last reading for a client is at 9pm, tonight. Come to my office at 9:30," Stella instructed.

I almost chuckled. Stella's "office" is a sectioned off area in the enclosed sun room in the rundown house she shares with her sister, Beverly. I could picture the card table she has set up there along with her perpetual glass of iced tea and worn out decks of cards, both regular and tarot. "I'll be there," I told her before snapping my phone shut.

I showered quickly, even though 9:30 was two hours away, then dressed in a fresh pair of black cargo pants and a black t-shirt. When I walked back out to the kitchen, I found that Ella had brought in dinner while I was in the bathroom.

I grabbed the newspaper to read while eating, but soon found I didn't have much interest in either. After three bites of grilled chicken, I tossed the newspaper aside and pushed my plate away. _Stephanie, Stephanie, what are you up to now?_ I wanted to call her, but didn't want to scare her needlessly. If I found out she was in danger and offered to help, she'd most likely refuse. I decided it would be best I didn't speak to her until after I talk to Stella.

I went to the office in my apartment and brought up her tracker on my laptop. Her car was sitting in the parking lot in front of her apartment building. At least I knew she was home and that her car hadn't exploded. I decided to keep an eye on her tracker until it was time to leave for my meeting with Stella.

I opened the program to start on the Rangeman monitor shift schedule for next week. Might as well get something else done while I'm sitting here. I even resisted the urge to refresh the page with Steph's tracker information since it automatically refreshes by itself every 15 seconds.

I found enough work to do to keep me occupied and finally, at 9:30pm exactly, I pulled up in front of Stella's house. The last time I was here, the paint on the house was gray and peeling. Now, someone had painted it a light turquoise color with white trim. Maybe being in the psychic business paid more than I had assumed, I thought as I made my way to the front door.

Stella opened the door just as I was about to knock and I stepped aside so the person she was speaking with could step out. This, I presumed, was the last client of the day she had mentioned on the phone. The woman on her way out was short with a small frame. She looked distinctly Italian and her gesturing hands supported that thought as she quickly reiterated something Stella had told her during the reading. I tried not to listen, but was able to gather she was ranting about her selfish grown daughter and her own lack of grandbabies.

Finally, the Italian woman stalked off and Stella invited me inside. "Ranger, it's good to see you." She gestured to the doorway that I knew led to her card table in the sun room.

"It's good to see you too, Stella. The house looks nice."

She grinned with pride, but didn't reply, instead just falling in step behind me to follow me into the sun room.

As soon as we were seated, I asked her to tell me what was up with Stephanie.

"You never were one for small talk, Ranger," she said without malice. "Just give me your hand and let me look into your eyes for a moment.

While I really wanted to give her one of Steph's famous eye rolls, I also wanted to get this done and over with so I could do what I need to do for Steph or go home and go to bed if it was a false alarm, so I held out my right hand.

After spending nearly three minutes looking back and forth from my eyes to my hand, Stella gently let go of my hand, allowing it to rest on the table. "You're losing her," she said with a flat, no nonsense tone. "I called as soon as I had the first vision earlier this evening, but I fear it is already too late."

I kept my breathing steady even though part of me knew that whatever Stella saw would turn out to be true. "I'm losing her in what way? Is she in danger?"

"No, I do not believe she is in danger. A man you both know is taking her away with him. Taking her away from Trenton and away from you."

"Is the man a cop?" I asked, with more edge to my voice than I intended.

"No, not a cop. This man works for you and wears your uniform. I had the first vision after seeing him down here earlier this evening. I happened to look out the window tonight just as he was chasing a man from the direction of Stark Street. Your man dove on him and cuffed his hands behind his back. When your man looked up in this direction, I could see his eyes and the vision came to me."

"Look Stella, all of my men watch out for Stephanie. Perhaps you just saw one of them getting her out of a dangerous situation," I tried to reason with her.

Stella shook her head adamantly, causing the salt and pepper bun she had wound her hair into, to quiver on top of her head. "No. That is not correct. The man with the green eyes is taking her for himself and she has agreed to it."

My body stilled completely as I let her words sink in. I knew from looking over the reports that Lester was the man with the green eyes who had been down here earlier tonight to pick up a skip along with Bobby. Certainly there was some mistake. Stephanie and Lester got along very well and even had a lot of fun together, but there wasn't anything serious between them. They weren't even dating. Lester hardly ever had an interest in a woman that lasted longer than three days.

I blinked and then shook my head. Over Stella's shoulder I saw the small hand printed sign that said she charges twenty dollars for a full reading and ten dollars for a half reading, whatever that is. I knew there was no sense in arguing with her about Stephanie and Lester so I stood and pulled a fifty dollar bill out of my pocket and tossed it on the table. "Thanks Stella. I need to get back to Rangeman."

Stella followed me to the door. "I'm sorry for the bad news, Ranger. I thought you'd want to know."

"I appreciate it, Stella," I lied as I let myself out the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

All characters, except Stella and Trip Herzog. belong to JE. I just write about them for the fun of it. Not making any money from this.

**Chapter 5 - Lester's POV**

I can't believe how smoothly things are going. Stephanie has agreed to marry me, I dropped Rex off at Rangeman and Tank has approved my time off. After I left Stephanie's apartment, I got on my cell phone and purchased two roundtrip tickets to Las Vegas for tonight. Now I was packed and back in her parking lot to pick her up.

I ran up the stairs two at a time to get to the second floor and quickly knocked on her door. I had spoken to her on the phone twice since the last time I saw her, and she was expecting me, so I only had to wait a few seconds for her to fling the door open.

"Hey, Les," she greeted me with a smile.

"Hey Beautiful," I returned her greeting. "You almost ready?"

"Yep. I'm all packed and I was just listening to some calls on my answering machine that have been piling up the last couple of days.

I have to say, it's kind of strange to see Steph so relaxed over this. Usually, just the mention of marriage or commitment causes her to run the other way in a blind panic. She must be so relieved about being able to help Albert and Val, she's able to temporarily block out the fact that we're actually getting married. Denial is a huge part of Stephanie's life portfolio.

As if trying to read my mind, she said, "Lester, relax. This is just temporary, right? A year from now you'll be free of me and can pick up your old bachelor ways once again. Plus, you'll be a rich man."

I gave her one one of my lopsided goofy grins that never fail to make her laugh and said, "I'm more worried about you, Beautiful. I'll be fine. I was thinking about it on my way back over here tonight. Honestly, I can't think of a downside to being married to you, other than the fact that Ranger is going to try to kill me," I told her. "Good thing I'm not afraid of him," I finished with a laugh. Actually, I was a little bit afraid of Ranger, but even though he was going to want to kill me, he wouldn't actually go through with it. At least I'm pretty sure he wouldn't.

"I'll be fine," she assured me. I can't tell you what a relief it is to know that Albert is going to be able to have his surgery and cancer treatment without he and Val worrying about how they're going to pay for it and without having to worry about losing their house. I only wish ..." Her voice trailed off and she didn't finish what she'd started to say.

I stepped closer to her and slung an arm around her shoulders. "You only wish what, Steph?"

She hesitated and then looked up at me. "I wish I could tell Ranger what's going on. He's not going to understand why we're doing this."

I let out a sigh. "Steph, I know it's hard for you not to tell him about this, but like we talked about on the phone earlier, concerning the ground rules we set up. If either of us start independently making decisions about who we can tell what to, this isn't going to work. You tell Ranger and he could end up confiding in his best friend, Tank. They tell each other everything, you know. Then, what if Tank talks in his sleep and Lula hears him? The whole thing could blow up in our faces. We have to agree that neither of us breathe a word to anyone about the real reason we're doing this. Not even to Ranger."

"Tank talks in his sleep?" she asked with surprise. "Wait. Come to think of it, it seems Lula's mentioned that. He snores too and has occasional nightmares about some of his past missions that have gone to hell."

I shrugged. "He used to. I don't know if he still does. I was just trying to make a point. Even if he doesn't, when Lula finds out we're married, she's going to bug the hell out of Tank to see if he knows anything. And, if Ranger confides in him, Tank is either going to have to lie to her or have another thing he has to keep from her. It's just too much of a chance to take, Steph. Maybe not for a minor secret, but we're talking millions of dollars here. And Albert's treatment. I brought up setting ground rules for a reason, and once we agree to them, we both need to keep our word and stick to them."

Steph nodded her head. "You're right. I get it. Even if there is only a slight chance, we can't afford to take it. My lips are sealed." She picked up my arm and looked at my watch. "Ready?" she asked.

"Yep. This it?" I questioned her, looking at her one suitcase.

She nodded toward the couch and that's when I saw a carry-on bag. I grabbed both and she grabbed her purse and locked the door behind us on our way out.

We took the elevator down and walked through the lobby. Steph pushed through the door and held it for me since I was carrying both her bags. We didn't make it three steps across the parking lot before I heard the sound a familiar high performance engine heading into the lot. Steph and I both froze in place and a few seconds later Ranger's Porsche slid to a stop in front of us.

I wanted to let loose with a string of expletives, but when I saw the look of shock on Steph's face, I decided it would only make things worse if I started pitching a fit.

Ranger launched himself out of the turbo and with four steps he was standing in front of us. Without even a glance at Stephanie, he locked his eyes on me. "Explain!" he barked out in his usual demanding way.

As much as I wanted to tell him to kiss my ass and mind his own business, I didn't want to do anything that would upset Steph and possibly make her change her mind, or even worse, start to cry. It breaks my heart to hear her cry.

"Steph and I are going out of town for a few days," I told him.

Ranger shifted his eyes to Stephanie as if he wanted her to confirm what I was saying.

Steph only nodded. I think the fact that she's normally pretty chatty, but was silent at this moment, was making Ranger's internal alarm go off even more than it was when he first pulled up.

I set Stephanie's suitcases down on the ground and said, "Come on, man," to Ranger and he followed me as I walked several feet away from where she was standing.

Before I could say a word, Ranger said, "What the hell are you up to, Santos? Don't you have to work tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "I'm taking a few days off. I've already cleared it with Tank. Listen, man, I know you don't want to hear this, but Stephanie and I are ... we're getting married."

I don't think I'll ever forget the look on Ranger's face before he was able to slam his blank face into place. I saw it all. The disbelief, the pain and finally the realization that I was dead serious. "How did you know to come here tonight?" I asked him, after he had a chance to recover for a moment.

"Stella," was all he said.

"Stella? Stella who? You don't mean that psychic down by Stark Street?"

Ranger nodded. "She called me and said someone was taking Stephanie away from me."

We were both quiet for a moment. I glanced over at poor Steph who looked worried and uncomfortable. Her shoulders were slouched a bit and she was watching us while trying to pretend she wasn't watching.

"She isn't yours," I told him. "You've had over three years to make some kind of claim and you haven't done a damn thing, Ranger."

"Why are you doing this, Santos? You two don't love each other."

"Why we're getting married is our own business, cuz. You have no idea what feelings Stephanie and I have for each other. I told you a long time ago that if you didn't step up, I'd step in and I'm stepping in. I'm sorry you're upset, but this is just how it is. Did Stella tell you anything else?"

"Is there more to tell?" Ranger shot back?

"No, I was just curious. Psychics freak me out."

He locked his cold dark eyes on mine. "You hurt her and I'll kill you," he ground out.

"I won't hurt her, man. I'd rather cut off my right arm than hurt that woman."

He walked away then and stopped in front of Stephanie. I wanted to know what he was going to say to her, but decided I should give them a few minutes alone. I hope it wasn't a bad decision. Everyone in Trenton knows the two of them love each other, but Ranger is just too damn chicken to let her into his life.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**The characters you recognize belong to JE. Not mine, just having fun. Not making any money. **

**Chapter 6 - Stephanie's POV**

Queasy wasn't the word for it when Ranger walked away from Lester and began to approach me in the parking lot. His face was blank, but it didn't take a genius to know that he was barely containing his anger toward Lester, and my stomach was roiling.

When he stopped in front of me, I chanced a glance at his face and when our eyes met, his softened a bit. I've seen that happen before. I've seen him glare daggers at many of his men, at skips and even my ex, Joe, but he has never once directed his anger toward me.

"Babe?" It was only one word, but I knew he was asking so much more.

"Ranger, I'm sorry. This was a crappy way for you to find out and I wish it hadn't happened this way." I was staring at the tops of my shoes now, not able to look at his eyes any longer.

"So, it's true? You're going to marry Lester?"

"Yes, we're on our way to Las Vegas."

"Why?"

"Because we can get married right away there."

He was quiet for a moment and I chanced another glance at him. I could tell he was confused.

"What's the rush?"

"I don't really have time to talk about it right now. We have to make our flight."

"Babe, are you saying that this is truly what you want to do?"

I glanced over at Lester and then back down at my feet. "Yes," I said softly.

"Steph. Look at my face and tell me this is really what you want."

Christ. Did he have to make this harder than it already was? I was three seconds from bursting into tears. I gathered my thoughts and concentrated on the fact that I was doing this for Val and Albert and to help Lester get his inheritance. When I was ready to pull it off, I looked at Ranger's gorgeous face. "Yes, this is what I want to do."

I could tell that Ranger knew I wasn't lying, but I swear he also knew I wasn't telling him the complete truth.

"Be happy, Steph," he said softly. He turned on his heel and walked back to his Porsche.

Lester rejoined me as Ranger pulled away. We were both quiet for a moment, then Lester looked at his watch. "We need to get going, Beautiful."

Lester loaded my bags next to his in the back of his SUV and we headed toward the Interstate. This was really happening. In a matter of hours, I was going to be Mrs. Lester Santos.

Just before we hit the Interstate, Lester made a right hand turn. I was curious about what he was doing, but didn't have the energy to ask. Suddenly, I was exhausted and my mind was still on Ranger and the look on his face when I told him that this was what I really wanted to do. He tried to hide it. He's usually a master at covering up his emotions, but he wasn't on top of his game tonight. I saw the hurt and confusion he was trying so desperately to hide.

The next thing I knew, Lester was going through the drive-thru of a 24 hour donut shop. He ordered two Boston cream donuts and two cups of coffee, one black, the other with extra sugar and extra cream.

Before he pulled away from the window, he handed me the bag with the donuts and a cup of coffee. "I thought these might help," he said softly.

I couldn't help but smile at him. He knows me so well. "I'm thinking it won't be so bad to be married to you Lester. You know how to make things right when it seems like everything is going to hell."

Lester pulled back out onto the road and was quiet as he took the ramp to the freeway. Finally, he spoke again. "Is that what this feels like, Beautiful? Like everything is going to hell?"

I could hear the worry and tension in his voice. "No. I felt like everything was starting to go to hell when Val first called me. Then you showed up at my door with the answer to her prayers. And a few minutes ago, I was feeling all kinds of crappy, but you knew just what to do to help me spend a few minutes in denial land while I get my thoughts back in order."

He took his time, thinking over what I'd said. "I sure hope we're not making a mistake, Beautiful."

I sighed. "I hope not, too. But, if we are, it'll be over in a little more than 365 days," I reminded him.

"Yeah, that's true. I guess we'll just need to keep reminding ourselves that this isn't forever and that a lot of good will come from it."

I turned my head to stare out the window for awhile so that Lester couldn't see my face. The thought of keeping Ranger in the dark for a whole year made tears spring to my eyes and I didn't want Les to see them. I couldn't let him starting feeling bad for something I'd already agreed to.

It was going to be agony. The look on Ranger's face keep flashing in my mind over and over again. I tried closing my eyes, but it wouldn't go away. Finally, I shifted my focus to Val and Albert. The fact that we were gong to be able to help them was the one thing that was going to keep me sane though this whole ordeal.

Damn Ranger, anyway. If he wanted me in his life, he could have had me a long time ago, so I don't know why I'm even worried about him. Yes, I do. It's because I love him. Sitting here in the truck on the way to the airport to get married to Lester, it suddenly became as clear as a bell to me. I love Ranger. I love him more than anything in the world. Not that there was a chance in hell he would ever ask me to be in an exclusive relationship. But still. Ugh! I felt a heaviness in my chest that I believe is going to be there for a long, long time. I forced my thoughts back to Albert and Val. _Keep your mind on the goal, Steph_, I reminded myself.

We drove in silence for at least thirty minutes and I was getting fidgety. My thoughts had shifted and now I was wondering when we were going to talk about sex again. We hadn't set any ground rules for that yet. Feelings for Ranger or not, living in the same house with Lester for a year was going to be beyond tempting, especially during those times when my hormones rage out of control. Like every other day or so. Ha! I mean, the man is gorgeous. Everything about him from his spiky hair, to his twinkling green eyes, to his excellent sense of humor, to his beautiful smile and perfect white teeth. And then there's his killer body. Oh boy! Now I was really fidgeting. I had to remind myself to not start squirming in my seat.

"Les?" I prompted softly, not wanting to startle him out of his driving zone.

He glanced over at me and winked. "Yeah, Beautiful. How ya doin'?"

"Fine, I guess. We need to talk about sex."

Lester grinned. "Okay, well, I'm well versed on the subject. What would you like to know that your mother never told you? I can teach you 47 different sex positions, if you're interested. And that's in the first week."

That made me laugh. "If we start with the things my mother never told me, we'll be talking for a year. Seriously. Have you thought about what it's going to be like living together and not being able to see other people?"

"Yep. I was thinking if you don't put out within a week, I'm going to have to shoot myself," he said with a big grin and another wink.

"Lester! Put out? Is that any way to speak to your future wife?" I teased him.

"Sorry, my darling fiancée. I'll try to remember to be a little more suave and romantic. I'm not learning poetry though. I put my foot down at poetry."

I smiled at him. "I'll let you off the hook on the poetry thing. I'm not really a poetry type girl."

Lester reached over and squeezed my left hand with his right. "What kind of girl are you, Beautiful?"

"It's a little late to ask that, my sweet, soon-to-be husband. We're supposed to be talking about ground rules for sex and I think you're avoiding the subject. Avoidance is normally my job, Les."

"That's true," he agreed. "I'm wondering once again why you're talking this so well."

I looked out the window again for a moment and then back at Les. "I'm not," I said softly.

Lester let go of my hand and ran his fingers through his hair as he blew out a sigh. "In what way are you not doing well? Talk to me, Beautiful."

Oh lord. "On top of everything else that's going on, you want me to start talking about feelings? Christ! I dunno. My head hurts, my chest hurts, I can't get my mind off the look on Ranger's face. I have no way to know what the heck he's thinking right now. I have no idea how I'm going to tell my mother about this. I doubt I'll be welcome back at Rangeman when we get home and Connie, Marylou and Lula are going to kill be for telling them about the wedding after the fact."

I put my hands over my mouth just to shut myself up. Geeze! I hadn't wanted to make Lester feel bad and then I go and get diarrhea of the mouth and dump all my worries on him. I feel like a total putz.

"This is really a bad idea, isn't it?" he asked. "We should just call the whole thing off and turn around right now."

"No! We can't do that. We'll get through this, Les. You can't just turn your back on all those millions and I promised Val I'd have the money in a few days. It'll be fine. Somehow, it'll work out. We just have to take it one day at a time."

I glanced over and saw Lester chewing on his bottom lip. We weren't even married yet and he was picking up my bad habits. "Les?"

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, Beautiful. Somehow, we'll make it work. We'll mark off the days on a calendar and before we know it, a year will have flown by. I wonder if either of us will have a job at Rangeman when we get back? Not that we'll need the money, but it sure would be weird not to work there any more and to be cut off from all the guys."

"I have a feeling Ranger's going to go in the wind, again," I said sadly. He probably won't even be there when we get back. We'll have to have a talk with Tank and see what he thinks. If by some chance, Ranger is still in Trenton when we get back, I don't think I can be around him at the office. It would just be too awkward."

Les nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. Ranger and I have had our differences, but we're still cousins, and we've always been able to remain friends. I don't think he'll ever look at me as a friend again."

On that sad note, we both grew quiet and got lost in our own thoughts. The next thing I knew, Lester was taking the exit to the airport and we still hadn't set any ground rules about sex. Crap!

**A/N - Thanks for all the nice reviews and PM's, so far. I love them and they sure make a writer want to keep on writing!**

**Check out my bio page for a cute BABE One Shot called "Off the Charts." Thanks! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**All characters except Stella and Trip Herzog belong to JE. I'm not making any money.**

**Chapter 7 - Ranger's POV**

I had no idea what the hell was actually going on, I just knew that something wasn't right about the whole thing. Lester has been the epitome of a wild and free playboy all his adult life and Steph is deathly afraid of commitment. For one of them to suddenly decide to get married would be strange enough, but for both of them to suddenly decide to get married - to each other of all things - was over the top.

There had to be a reason, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what it was or if I just wanted to go far away and never think about it again. Even if I could find out the reason, it's not like I could stop them. It's not like I even had the right to try.

This single act of the two of them getting married was going to change everything. Stephanie, whether or not I was willing to admit it before tonight, was the main reason I'd stuck around in Trenton for so long after setting up Rangeman here. Usually, I set up a location and after it is up and running, I move on and scout out the next location for an office.

There would be no more stolen kisses in the alley by the bond office. No more sneaking into her apartment at night to watch her sleep on nights I needed to center myself. No reason to hope that someday I'd figure out a way she and I could be together. There would never be another night like the glorious night we'd shared in her bed. After all this time, I could still remember the details of that night, both large and small. The scent of her hair and body, the glazed look in her eyes when she let herself go. The way her curls trapped my fingers when I buried my hands in her wild hair. The way our bodies melded into a perfect whole. The realization I'd had that night that there would never be another who could take her place. At least not in any way that really mattered.

As the speedometer on the Porsche approached 106 mph, I tried to picture a life without Stephanie. I saw nothing but bleakness. An empty black hole that would tempt me to crawl inside and never come out. Nothing really mattered without Steph being there, even if we didn't have a real relationship. In my mind, we were a couple, just not in the traditional sense. In my mind, she was my reason for ... everything. Without Steph, my world was black and white. She brought not only color, but smiles and laughter and warmth. She made me feel a passion that was absent before I met her and would no doubt disappear with her out of my life.

When I saw the guardrail up ahead, I wanted nothing more than to crash my car through it and sink into the river below. I knew I couldn't to it though. I have a company that employs people who depend on me. My parents would be devastated and I'd already put them through enough over the years. But mostly, I couldn't do it because Stephanie would find a way to blame herself, and I couldn't let that happen.

I let off the accelerator and took the next exit so I could turn around and head back toward Rangeman.

An hour later, I was sitting at my desk, going through a pile of paperwork that needed to be taken care of before I could just up and leave town. It was after midnight when there was a sudden loud knock at my door and it flew open before I could say a word.

My head snapped up as Tank, my second in command, strode in without waiting for an invitation. He quietly slid into one of the leather chairs in front of my desk and crossed one leg over the other. He studied my face for a moment, neither of us speaking so much as a greeting.

Finally, Tank broke the silence. "What the hell is going on, man?"

"What are you doing here, Tank?" I asked him, without answering his question.

"Binky is on monitor duty tonight. He called me after you came in and said he could tell something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was. He thought I should know."

"Fuck Binky," I told him. How come no one minds their own fucking business any more?"

"Nice deflection," Tank threw back at me. "Now, you want to tell me why you came back to the office to do more paperwork at this time of night after already leaving for the day?"

I knew I could keep up the back and forth banter forever, but it was pointless and immature. As much as I hated people being in my personal business, Tank is my best friend, and I knew he'd find out eventually anyway. I tossed my pen on the desk and leaned back in my chair. "You gave Santos some time off?"

I could see the surprise on Tank's face at my choice of subject matter. "Yeah," he replied. "He has unused sick days and unused personal days. He asked for a few days off and since no one else is off or incapacitated at the moment, I told him it was okay. Why? Is there a problem I don't know about?"

"He tell you why he wanted the time off?"

Tank shook his head. "Nope. I didn't ask either. None of my business. I just asked him if everything was okay. He said that it was. I checked the schedule, told him it was no problem and he left. What the hell's going on, Ranger?"

"He's getting married," I ground out.

"What the fuck? Christ, Ranger, if I couldn't see the look on your face that you're desperately trying to cover up, I'd say you were pranking me. Lester's getting married? That's insane."

"You don't know the half of it," I told him.

Tank shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. He's not even seeing anyone in a serious way. As far as I know, he's never even had more than two or three dates with the same woman. Who the hell would marry that guy?"

"Stephanie," I blurted out.

For two minutes minimum, you could have heard a pin drop in the room.

"You're full of shit," Tank finally barked out. "That's not possible. Just two nights ago, at Shorty's, Lester was all over a waitress and Steph was there, laughing her butt off at him. There is no way our little girl would view Lester as marriage material."

I picked the pen back up off my desk and started flipping it back and forth between my fingers. Normally, I don't do nervous gestures, but this was too much, even for me. I knew Tank was waiting for a reply, but I was fresh out of comebacks and truthfully, I couldn't figure it out either. Nothing about the situation made sense.

"Ranger, you're serious, aren't you?"

"Serious as a heart attack. I pulled into her parking lot tonight as the two of them were getting ready to load her suitcases into Lester's SUV. They said they were leaving for Vegas to get married."

"Damn. This is fucked up, man. I can't believe Stephanie would willingly marry him. She couldn't even make herself marry the cop and the cop loved her."

I didn't bother to reply. The same thoughts had already raced though my head a dozen times since I'd left her standing there with Santos.

"What are you going to do about it," Tank demanded.

"There's nothing I can do about it. I asked her if this is what she wanted and she said it was."

"And you believe her?"

"Not entirely, but I don't have any authority over her, Tank. She's free to do as she pleases."

Tank scrubbed his hands over his face. "Man, I don't think I've been this stunned since I read the orders for our last mission and realized what the government wanted us to do." He paused then, trying to get a read on my face and mood. "You okay, dude?"

I almost rolled my eyes at his use of the word dude. Sometimes my men spoke like sixteen year old street kids. "When I finish here, I'm going off-line for a while. I'll be in touch."

I could tell he didn't like my answer, but he knew from past experience it was useless to object. "You'd better be in touch, man. The building I work in has the best men and equipment available. You try to get lost and I'll hunt you down myself."

I didn't feel like saying anything so I gave him a brief nod and he finally stood up and left me alone in my office.

Thirty seconds later, he stuck his head back in my office. "If he hurts her, I'll kill him," Tank spouted off.

"If he hurts her, I'll kill him before you even get wind of it," I promised him.

Tank nodded at the validity of my words and softly closed the door.

I was seriously running low on energy. It was as though the emotional impact had drained the life out of me. I had a headache from hell, my chest hurt and my throat was as dry as the desert. I hauled myself out of my chair and made my way to the break room to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator. When I got to the doorway of the break room, I heard a familiar squeaking noise.

I stepped inside to confirm what I'd heard, and sure enough, there was Rex, running on his wheel in his cage. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it with my own ears, but I swear, I choked back an anguished sob. My Babe was gone and she'd left us both behind. She'd be coming back for Rex, but she wouldn't be coming back for me. I turned and hurried from the room. Back at my office, I turned out the light, pulled the door closed and took the stairs at a dead run to the garage. I had to get out of here. Now.

I tore the tracker from the car and heaved it at the wall, then slid behind the wheel of the turbo and tore out of the garage. The biggest problem was, there was nowhere I wanted to go. Nowhere I wanted to be ... except in the arms of the woman I love and she was on her way to Vegas to marry someone else. How could this have happened? How could I have let it happen? Maybe it wasn't too late to stop them. Fuck! I had no right to stop them. I'd never once told her how I feel, not without adding a damn clause at the end of it. I had to be unique among men, I thought. A badass without a fucking spine!

I stopped at a liquor store and bought a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. I had to hassle with the owner because it was past the legal hour for selling hard liquor. Finally, $200 in cash changed his mind. I drove to Steph's apartment building. Her car was still there and her apartment was dark. It was really true. She was gone. I parked in the back of the lot and went inside, then took the stairs to the second floor. I easily picked her Toys R Us lock and stepped inside. I knew I shouldn't be here. I wasn't even quite sure why I was. I guess because it belonged to my Babe and it was a connection to her.

I settled myself on her couch and opened the bottle of Johnnie Walker, then flipped on the TV. For the next two hours I stared at CNN and drank myself into a stupor. Finally, I clicked off the TV and stumbled into her bedroom. My vision and coordination were off because of the drinking and it took me at least five minutes to get my fucking boots off. I collapsed back onto her bed and pulled her pillow close. I groaned as I breathed in her scent from the pillowcase. "I can't make it without you, Babe. My life is too dark and ugly when you're not around to make things better," I slurred into the pillow. I took a ragged breath, closed my eyes, and let sleep overtake me.

**A/N Please review if you have a minute. I love reading all the comments. It's fun! So, what do you think Ranger will do next? **


	8. Chapter 8

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Characters belong to JE, except for Stella & Trip Herzog. I'm just having fun. Not making any money.**

**Chapter 8 - Lester's POV**

By the time Steph and I reached Las Vegas and checked into our hotel room, it was four o'clock in the morning. I'd reserved a resort deluxe queen room at the Bellagio because they're nice and have two queen size beds, a well stocked mini bar and a 40" flat screen HDTV. Since we were both exhausted, we decided to just get some sleep and make the arrangements for the wedding when we woke up.

While Stephanie showered and got ready for bed, I read through some pamphlets I'd picked up at the airport, advertising the various wedding chapels in the area. After reading through the information, I figured I knew everything I needed to know about getting the license and getting married. It was pretty simple really. In Vegas, there are people who are ready to take care of all your needs, right down to the smallest detail, as long as you're willing to pay for it. And willing, I was.

We were awake by noon, married by 2:00 pm, had the paperwork faxed to Trip Herzog by 3:00 pm, and now we were sitting across from each other at a table in the Prime Steakhouse inside the Bellagio. The classic chocolate brown and delicate Tiffany blue décor was pleasing to the eye and the restaurant had a relaxing feel as diners conversed quietly while enjoying their steak, lamb or seafood.

Stephanie had been particularly quiet since the ceremony and I was curious to know what she was thinking. I didn't want to just barge into her thoughts demanding answers though. I know her well enough to realize she needs time to process major events that occur in and around her life, and pressing her for her innermost thoughts would put unneeded stress on her. I knew I just had to remain cool until she was ready to talk about it.

I watched her as she perused her menu and couldn't help but think again how beautiful she is and how she's either totally unaware of it or just chooses to never use it to her own personal advantage. I mean, I've seen her get dolled up and sexed up for distractions, and she knows she has the attractiveness to pull it off. I've just never seen her do it in real life with men. She doesn't bat her eyelashes or play the helpless female or get sexed up and try to lure men home with her. She's just a really decent person and I love her for it. Everyone does. With Stephanie, what you see is what you get.

This afternoon, she's wearing a dark blue dress that stops about three inches above her knees. It has some kind of wrap around sash thing at the waist that accentuates her sexy curves. She has on matching blue shoes with a tapered three inch heel and she'd taken extra time with her hair. The bathroom door had been open and I watched her spend a lot of time with a curling iron, forming her locks into soft bouncy curls that fell just past her shoulders. Her makeup was natural looking, except for the several coats of mascara that seem to bolster her confidence. She doesn't know it, but her expressive, crystal blue eyes could disarm just about anyone, mascara not required.

I held up my champagne glass and said, "To us. To 365 days of wedded bliss," I said with a wink." I wanted to remind her once again that this was just temporary so she wouldn't freak out when she got to the place in her mind that screamed to her that she was actually married for the second time in her life and for the second time in her life it was to the wrong man.

She put her menu aside and picked up her glass, clinking it against mine. "Don't worry, Lester. I'm fine. I'm not going to go crazy on you. As weird as this whole thing is, our lives are not going to change that much, right? We'll still live in Trenton, we'll still have the same friends and one year from now, it'll all be over with. Plus, Albert will have gone through his cancer treatment, he and Val won't lose their house and you and I will be rich. What's not to love?" she asked.

She was saying all the right words, but there was a hollowness to them. It was like she was speaking from a script she'd memorized in order to repeat it to herself as needed. I was going to do everything in my power to see that she was happy every single day we were together. I wasn't going to give her time to dwell on whether or not this whole thing was a mistake.

I know I have a reputation as a bit of a goof-off and clown, but I know a good woman when I see one and I'm looking at one now. I can be mature and responsible when I want to. I made a promise to myself I'd do everything I could to make sure to make this whole thing is as easy on her as possible.

She interrupted my thoughts then. "Les, what are we going to do about jobs when we get back? I mean, I know we won't need to work with all that money, but we have to let people think we're still still at the same income level we were at when we left town yesterday. Otherwise, they're going to start asking questions. Not that they won't have a ton of questions as it is. I don't think either of us are going to be welcome at Rangeman."

Our waiter showed up then to take our order and after he walked away, I addressed the work issue. "I've been thinking about that, Steph. I have a friend who is selling his business and I was thinking about buying it. We could work together. I could do the physical work and you could run the office and do the bookkeeping, if you think you'd like doing that kind of thing."

"Won't people wonder where you got the money to buy a business?"

"Nah, it's just a small business. People open businesses every day without inheriting a lot of money. Plus, I'll probably sell the house I bought in Princeton. I've been renovating it, but now that I'm going to have a lot of money, I'll probably buy something bigger. I'll just let people assume that I used the money from the sale of the house to buy the business."

I refilled our champagne glasses while I waited for her to think it over and reply.

"That sounds like a pretty decent plan, but I'm afraid I'd be bored to death working in an office all day."

"Are you saying you still want to work for Vinnie, bringing in skips?" I asked. I tried to keep the concern out of my voice, but I know she heard it. She'd pretty darn good at what she does, but it's dangerous and I've always wanted her to find something else to do.

"No. I'm sick of rolling around in garbage and chasing people and getting chased, not to mention getting threatened and shot at and picking up stalkers. I don't know what I want to do, really. I guess I could work in the office at your business while I figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life." She paused to drink some of her champagne. "I'm thinking I might take some more college courses. Maybe I'll look at the course catalog for Mercer County Community College and see what they have to offer. What kind of business does your friend have?"

"It's that go kart track outside Trenton. You've probably seen it off the expressway. There are batting cages, a driving range and a putt-putt golf course too."

"Oh yeah. I've actually played putt-putt there! I like that place. That seems like it would be a fun business to own. I don't think working in the office would be so bad. I'll get to play putt-putt for free, right?"

"All the free putt-putt you can handle, Beautiful. And you can invite Lula and Connie and your other friend, I forget her name. They can play free too."

"Marylou. If any of them forgive me for getting married without telling them, I'll invite them to play," she said quietly. "Where are we going to live if you sell your house, Les?"

"Yeah, that's another good question. I think when we get back to the room, we need to sit down and make a list of things we need to take care of and prioritize it."

Our lunch arrived then and we ate in silence. The food was excellent, but there was no joy in it. No moans from Stephanie. I figured she had so much on her mind, she probably wasn't even tasting her steak or baked potato.

I was starting to feel guilty for dragging her into this. It had seemed like a pretty good plan when I first came up with it, but after seeing Ranger's face in her parking lot and her face while she was speaking with him, I knew this was going to be hell on both of them. And yet, there was nothing between them, really. She's been free of the cop for months and Ranger never made a move. Never asked her out, didn't appear to be trying to get closer to her. It was puzzling.

We didn't linger after we were done eating. I got the check and gave the waiter my credit card and when the bill was taken care of we made our way back to our room.

We both changed into comfortable clothes and then hit the slot machines for a couple hours. Steph ended up coming out twenty-five dollars ahead and I won a hundred bucks. We were both pretty pleased with that, but decided we needed to get back to our room to work on our list.

Each of us grabbed a couple sheets of hotel stationery and a pen and settled at the small round table near the corner of the room. "You know, Lester, besides this list of things we need to prioritize, we _still_ haven't talked about sex. You planning on being a monk for the next year? We need to talk about this."

I shuddered at the thought of being a monk. Not in this lifetime. Or any other, if I have any control over them. "Beautiful ... Steph ... I can't have sex with you."

She looked surprised. "Really? I mean, not that I've decided if it would be a good idea or bad idea, but you've always made suggestive comments to me. I guess I always thought you wanted to sleep with me. My silly."

"Oh, I do. I've fantasized about sleeping with you almost since the first time I met you. But, I can't. I really just can't."

"You can't? Oh! Oh, Lester, I'm so sorry. I had no idea. Have you seen a doctor? You know Viagra works for tons and tons of men," she told me.

"Viagra? What? No! That's not what I meant," I said with a shiver. "I didn't mean that I _can't_, I just meant that I can't."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Well that's clear as mud, Lester. Want to explain what you're talking about?"

"Steph, my equipment is fine. More than fine according to most of the women I've been with," I said with a wink. "It's just that I was watching you and Ranger in your parking lot. I won't pretend to know what's going on between the two of you and I know you said there's nothing there, but if the looks on both your faces was nothing, then I'm the offspring of a purple giraffe."

Steph blew out a breath and looked away as if in deep thought for a couple minutes. "Les, I'm not saying there aren't feelings there, I'm saying there's no future there. He doesn't want me in his life beyond what we have right now. He's made that perfectly clear."

"He's an idiot," I ground out.

"He's not an idiot, Lester."

"What do you call it, Beautiful?"

She chewed on her lower lip while she thought it over. "I dunno. Either he doesn't love me in the forever kind of way or maybe he's scared. Or maybe he knows he'll get tired of bleeding money after a while and start to resent it."

I frowned. "Bleeding money?"

"Yeah, he said that every time he has to send you guys out to track me or help me out, he bleeds money," she said quietly, hanging her head.

"What? What a fuckwad," I ground out.

"No, I'm sure it's true, Les. It's just confusing. Sometimes I don't understand what he's saying. One time he'll say he bleeds money and another time he'll say there's no price for what we give each other." She shrugged. "I'm not sure what it all means. Either there's a price or there isn't, but if he feels he's bleeding money, then I guess there's a price."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Yeah, and the biggest price is the toll it's taking on both your hearts. Which brings us back to the subject of sex. I won't be initiating sex with you. I know your heart belongs to Ranger and that he's in love with you whether he admits it or not. I won't use you for sex. If we ever sleep together, it'll be because you decide you want to and you'll have to initiate it."

Her eyes grew wide. "Me initiate sex?"

"Yeah, Beautiful. Haven't you ever been the one to initiate sex?"

She shook her head no.

"Seriously?" I asked her. "Why not?"

"Fear of rejection, I suppose. Not that anyone likes to be rejected, but I think I fear it more than most people."

"Unbelievable. Stephanie, do you seriously think there's a straight, available man in this country that would turn you down if you suggested sex?"

"You just did," she said with a snort.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm telling you something right now. I'm going to spend the next 364 days working on your self confidence. When I get done with you, you're going to be a different woman."

I got up and grabbed a couple beers from the fridge under the bar. I popped the caps off and handed a bottle to Steph. You're not only going to be the hot, sexy woman you are now, you're going to be hot, sexy and confident. You're going to know exactly what you want and then you're going to go after it."

She held out her beer bottle to me and said, "I hope you're up to the challenge, Lester. I hope you can build up in 364 days what my mother and the Burg have been tearing down for over 30 years."

I clinked my bottle to hers and we both took a long guzzle of beer. When I was done, I locked my eyes on hers. "Lesson number one," I said, wagging the top of my longneck beer bottle at her. "No more blaming your mother and the Burg for your lack of self confidence. It's true they probably caused it, but no more blaming. It's on you now. You're a grown woman and you don't have to choose to buy into their bullshit any longer."

She looked a little rattled so I added, "And I'll help you every step of the way, okay?"

"Okay," she said softly. "What can I help you with over the next 364 days, Les?"

I grinned. "It's going to be a challenge, but you're going to teach me how to stay home and live with one woman for a year. You're going to keep me out of bars. You're going to spend the evenings playing Scrabble and Monopoly with me and show me that I can get along just fine without going bar hopping two or three times a week trolling for women."

I saw the look of shock on her face. "What?" I asked.

"Is that really what you want, Les, or is this some kind of weird experiment?"

I ran my fingers through my spiked hair and wondered if I should say anything to her. I guess it couldn't hurt. It's not like she was going to tell anyone. I took another long pull on my beer while I thought it over. Finally, I blew out a heavy sigh. "I met someone, Steph," I confessed. I'm hoping she'll still be single and available when this year is up. I think she's the one."


	9. Chapter 9

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**All the characters you recognize belong to JE. I'm not making any money. Just writing for fun.**

**Chapter 9 - Stephanie's POV**

"Lester, you met someone and you think she's the one? Who is she? Why didn't you ask _her_ to get married? What's her name?"

He shrugged like the whole thing was no big deal. "It's not like that, Beautiful. Her name is Diane and I just met her the other day. I was going to call and ask her to go out this weekend, but never got a chance because of this thing with the will."

I frowned at him. "If you've never even gone out with her, why do you think she's the one?"

Lester fidgeted in his chair a bit and avoided my eyes. "I know it sounds weird, Beautiful, but something happened when I met her. Bobby and I were at the Home Depot in Princeton, looking at gas grills and so was she. We started talking and ... I can't explain it. I guess it sounds kind of lame now that I'm saying it out loud, but there was something there. Not just a little something, it was overwhelming. It was like I had feelings for her ten minutes into the conversation. Is that as stupid as I think it is?"

"No, it's not stupid, Les. "I think sometimes it happens that way. We just know right off the bat when we've met the person we're supposed to be with. So, what happened after that?"

"Well, the three of us walked out together and I asked her for her number. She gave it to me without hesitating. I've asked hundreds of women for their number, but even Bobby knew something different. After she left and we got in the truck, he told me that while I was getting her number, three chicks walked by us wearing bikinis and I never even noticed. All I could see and think about was Diane. I had all these pictures in my mind of spending time with her in the future. And, a lot of it didn't even include sex," he said with a smirk.

That made me laugh. "Yeah, that sure doesn't sound like you, Les. On a regular day, you would have gotten the numbers of at least two of the three bikini girls too." I studied his face and he was totally serious about this. Lester appeared to have finally been hit by Cupid's arrow and now he was stuck with me for a year. Could this whole thing get any worse?

I sighed and rose from my chair. "Want another beer, Les?" I asked, ruffling his hair as I walked past him.

"Sure, thanks. We need to get to work on our list."

I grabbed two more bottles of beer from the fridge and handed one to Lester. "No, first I want to hear a little more about Diane. Do you think she feels the same way? Do you know where she lives or where she works? Do you think you could trust her to keep our secret for a year and ask her to wait for you?"

"Sheesh, Steph. One question at a time. I do think she felt the connection too. When our eyes met, it was like there was some kind of outside force locking our gaze together. There was this weird current, sort of like electricity, but is was very emotional. Forgive my language, but it wasn't just my dick that wanted her, something in my chest woke up and was drawn to her too. I've never felt that before," he said softly. What organ is in the chest?" he asked with mock wonder.

"That would be the heart, Lester, my dear friend. It's that thing that keeps us alive and fights with our mind about what we want versus what's best for us. What else?" I asked him after a moment.

"Huh? Oh, she works for UPS and no, I can't confide our secret to her or anyone. You really want to take the chance of having to pay back twenty million dollars if word got out that I ran my mouth to a woman I just met? And then there's the ten million dollar bonus at the end of this year. I'm not risking all that."

"What bonus?"

I saw his forehead wrinkle. "I didn't tell you about the bonus?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so. If you did, I don't remember."

"Sorry. I've had so much on my mind. If we pull this off and keep it quiet for a year, we get another ten million."

"Holy cow!"

"I know," he said. To tell you the truth, I think Diane is the one ... or could have been the one, but I just can't take the chance of saying anything to her. The stakes are too high. I just hope when this year is up, she'll still be single and will listen to what I have to say when I explain the whole thing to her."

I wanted to tell him that some things were more important than money, but look at what I was doing. I'd do almost anything to get the money for Albert and Val, even sink far into denial land at the chapel so I could block out the look on Ranger's face in order to be able to say _I do _to another man. The wrong man. I just had to keep reminding myself that Lester may be the wrong man, but he was coming through at the right time. I couldn't wait to make that deposit into Val and Albert's bank account.

I reached over and squeezed Lester's hand. "It makes me sad that we have to keep this from Ranger and Diane, but I'm especially sad for you. Ranger and I had a lot of time to get it right and we just didn't, but you got cut off right at the beginning of something that could have been really special."

"Don't be sad, Steph. Let's just trust that everything will work out the way it's supposed to for all of us, okay? Now, let's think about something happy or funny."

I grinned. "I'll tell you what was funny. When you pulled that squirting flower out of your pocket and squirted water in my mouth at the end of our ceremony."

Lester grinned. "Yeah, I bought it in the gift shop when I went down to buy a newspaper this morning. I wanted to make sure you were smiling and not crying when we left the chapel. And, it worked!"

I nodded, set my beer bottle aside, and picked up my ink pen. "It did, indeed," I told him, flashing him a grin. "You don't have to worry about me falling apart, but thank you for thinking about my feelings. You're such a sweetie. Let's start on our list, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. I think I've changed my mind about how to do this. Since it can take a long time to sell a house, how about if we live in my house and I sell my Mercedes to get the money to buy the go kart business?"

I felt frown lines crease my forehead. "You own a Mercedes? Where is it and how come I didn't know that?"

"Yeah, I own a really nice Mercedes. Fully loaded, and I can get a lot of money for it. Enough for a down payment on the business. Then I can use the house as collateral on the loan. Oh, it's in my garage and you didn't know it because you've never been in my garage. I don't drive it to work."

"Hunh. Okay, well now the plan sounds a little more doable and it'll save some time and work if you don't have to put the house up for sale and we don't have to look for a place to live." I made some notes on my piece of paper.

"Steph?"

I looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"I haven't heard your phone ring since we left Trenton. You have it shut off?"

I sighed. "Yeah. No one I want to talk to right now. I haven't heard yours ring either. Shut off?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You think we should check them before we go to bed tonight?"

"Nope. Well, I'm not. You can check yours if you want to. I'll check mine tomorrow after we pack and before we leave for the airport. Have you thought about what we're going to tell people about how this happened?"

"Yep. I'm just going to say that this was what we both wanted and if they push me for details I'll tell them to mind their own business."

"Gee. That strategy might work with Bobby and Tank and the rest of the guys, but I'm thinking it won't go over well with my mother, Lula, Connie and Mary Lou."

"You don't owe them an explanation, Steph. "Just tell them we decided we wanted to get married and we did it. That's the truth. They don't need to know why."

"Yeah. Well, it's good that we get along so well and have fun together and make each other laugh. Maybe it won't be that hard to convince people we really care about each other because we actually do, right?"

Lester leaned over and kissed the tip of my nose. "Exactly. I do love you, Beautiful. You're a really good friend."

I smiled and punched him softly on his knee. "I love you too, Lester. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that things work out with you and Diane after this is all over."

We spent another forty-five minutes working on our list, watched TV for a couple hours, then decided to go find a Mexican place for dinner. We were both lost in our own thoughts and it was probably the quietest meal I've ever sat through.

When I crawled into bed that night, I felt an overwhelming sadness. Our list looked pretty complete, but one thing that was missing from it was how we were going to act around Ranger. Neither of us even brought it up. If we bought the go kart place, neither of us would going back to Rangeman. I wouldn't be working for Vinnie any more so I guess it wouldn't be that hard to avoid him. I felt sad when I thought about avoiding Ranger. I'd always looked forward to seeing him at the bonds office because nine times out of ten he'd ask to see me outside and then kiss me senseless in the alley. What if I didn't see him at all any more? What if I did? Shit!

I could hear Lester tossing and turning in the other bed. "You okay over there?" I asked softly?

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said with little enthusiasm. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," I lied, as a tear slid from my eye to my pillow.

**A/N - Thank you for all the reviews and PMs, so far. I'm starting to get behind in replying to them, but will try to get caught up. In real life, I work 60 hours a week, and the past couple of nights I've spent my free time working on the story instead of replying to reviews. Please forgive me - I love hearing from all of you and have read them all. I'm also working on a sequel to my Kindle novel and have just two chapters to go, plus a bunch of proofreading and editing to do. There just aren't enough hours in the day!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**The characters you recognize belong to Janet E. I'm just having fun and practicing my writing skills. Not making any money.**

Chapter 10 - Ranger's POV

It's been two days since my Babe and Lester took off to Las Vegas to get married and I'm still in her apartment. I know I need to get my ass out of here. They could come back at any time and I sure as hell didn't want them to find me here. How would I go about explaining it?

I feel lost though, and don't know where to go. There's nowhere I want to be and no one I want to talk to or see. I'm not used to this kind of emotional pain. How the hell do people get through this shit? I'm a fucking emotional cripple. I own a couple houses and Rangeman has a few safe houses, but I don't want to go to any of them. I only want to be around Stephanie's stuff and sleep in her bed. Is that sick? I'm not sure. Why do I want to sleep in her bed when she's not even here?

Christ, my head is pounding like someone's taken a jackhammer to it. No wonder I don't normally drink. At least it knocked me out both nights and I didn't have to think about what was going on. These sober blocks of time are murder though.

I keep hoping that one of them couldn't go through with the marriage. It seems like the odds would be good that one of them would call it off at the last moment. I guess that's why I'm still here. I'm hoping against hope that one of them got cold feet and that this whole nightmare will be over soon. I can't for one moment allow myself to think that somehow they love each other. I'm not sure Lester even knows what real love is and I was relatively sure that Steph loved _me_, even though she never actually said so. How could I have been so wrong? How could I have not seen this coming? Talk about not being aware of my surroundings. This was a total eclipse of my awareness.

On that thought, I went out to my car and got my duffel bag out of the back so I could shower and change clothes. I was still in the same clothes I had on the night I went to see Stella. Wait. Stella! I wondered if she could tell me what's going on. Maybe she could tell me if the wedding got called off. Christ! I can't believe I'm thinking of going back to see the psychic. Badass Army Rangers do not go to psychics for readings about their love life or lack thereof! Maybe when I leave there, I'll stop and play a little bingo at the VFW hall. I'm pretty sure I'm losing my fucking mind and I don't know how to stop it.

How did I get this screwed up over a woman? I mean, I've heard people talk about having a broken heart dozens of times over the years, but this is the first time I've experienced it. To say it sucks is an understatement. I feel like there's no reason to go on. The only woman I've ever loved is gone. I know I'll never fall in love again and who would want to when this is the result? Of course, if I had told her how I really feel, I might not be in this situation now. Regret is an ugly feeling.

The only person I really thought there was a danger of her marrying was the cop and I figured even if she did that, it wouldn't last long. I guess I just thought she'd hang around until I figured out a way to bring her into my life. Not that I knew when that might be. I can't believe I was stupid enough to think a woman as beautiful as Steph would be available forever and be happy with a five minute makeout session in an alley whenever our paths crossed at the bonds office.

I showered and changed and wasn't even all that pissed off when I realized I didn't have a razor in my bag. Who really gives a rat's ass if I shave today or not? No one. Not a single fucking person in the world, including me. I cleaned up the bathroom, hoping she wouldn't be able to tell I'd been here. I stuffed the empty Johnnie Walker bottle in my duffel bag and headed to my car. Once behind the wheel, I took a few deep breaths to clear my mind. I needed to make some decisions. One, I was not going back to the psychic. Two, I was not going to hang around waiting to see if they called off the wedding. If that happened, Tank would get word to me. Three, I needed to get out of this Godforsaken town.

I headed to the bonds office to let the weasel know I was going out of town and to tell him that Tank would be in charge in my absence. When I pulled up and saw that Lula's Firebird was already there, I wished I'd just called. Oh well, I was here now, might as well just get it over with.

I didn't get three feet inside the door when Lula practically pounced on me. "Batman! What the hell's going on with Steph? How did this happen?" she demanded.

Obviously word had already gotten around. Why wouldn't it? This is the Burg. "I gave her my best blank stare. "I'm not sure what you're talking about Lula. I looked at Connie. "Is he in?" I asked, nodding at Vinnie's office door.

"He's in, but someone's with him right now. He should be free in a minute, Ranger. You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Maybe because you haven't even shaved for two or three days, for one thing," Lula offered, even though I wasn't speaking to her.

"And maybe because our girl went and got herself married to someone else. What kinda screwed up world does that happen in?" she demanded to know.

"Who told you that?" I asked. I wanted to know if they were back in town. I wanted to know if she'd heard it directly from Steph.

"Joyce fucking Barnyard told me," she said, her voice dripping with disgust. "She came waltzing her skanky ass in here first thing this morning, waving her new diamond ring in our faces. Seems she got married in Vegas, and who the hell did she see coming out the chapel as she and husband number five pulled into the parking lot? I'll tell you who, Batman, she saw white girl and one of your men. She din't remember his name, so I din't even know who she fuckin' married!" Lula ranted.

Christ, she was really on a roll. She was waving her hands in the air and her breathing was heavy, causing her huge breasts to bounce around in her neon orange spandex shirt. She had her cell phone in one hand and I was vaguely aware that it could go flying out of her hand at any moment. Before I could say anything, she started again.

"I tole Joyce I din't believe her and she whipped out her freakin' iPhone an showed me a picture she took from her car window. Sure 'nuff, white girl an Lester was coming out the chapel with big smiles on their faces. I've tried callin' Steph five times now and she ain't answerin' her phone. You wanna explain that, Batman?"

Before I could answer, she started yet again! "An then y'all come in here not even shaved or nothin' and, well, you actually look extremely hot like that, but anyway, I ain't never seen you not shaved and I know you an Steph love each other so you got about thirty seconds to tell ole Lula what this is all about," she practically screeched. She flipped open her phone and hit a couple buttons. "Joyce sent the picture to me just to taunt me!" She held it up to my face and I froze. I didn't want to look, but I couldn't stop myself. Sure enough, there was Lester and my Babe, running down the steps of a wedding chapel. Steph was laughing and that son of a bitch, Lester, had a big smile on his face, like he'd just won the lottery.

I met Lula's eyes and knew that my blank face had slipped and that she saw it. I had to get out of there. Screw waiting for Vinnie. I'd call him from my car. I turned on my heel and hightailed it out the door.

I stopped for gas and filled the tank of the turbo then got on I-295 and headed south. I didn't know where I was going, I just knew I couldn't stay in Trenton. My Babe was married to another man and looked happy about it. My heart had shattered into a million pieces and the jagged edges were cutting into my soul.

Ten hours later, I found myself in Myrtle Beach, SC. I didn't know anyone there and that was kind of the point. I drove around a bit until I saw a vacancy sign at a place that had kitchenettes. It wasn't a great looking place, but I didn't care. Nothing mattered now. Nothing at all. After checking in, I went back out and got few bottles of hard liquor and some pre-made deli food. I threw the food into the small refrigerator in my room, locked the door and opened a bottle of booze. Stephanie was gone from my life and Jack Daniels was about to become my new best friend.

My phone vibrated and I grabbed it from my belt. It was Tank. I hit the off button and tossed the phone on the faded blue chenille bedspread. I paused for a moment, wondering when and where I learned what chenille looked like, but I couldn't recall. Of all the useful and useless things I'd learned in my life, the one thing I never learned was how to let someone into my life. Now it was too late. I lifted the bottle to my lips and welcomed the burning sensation as the booze slid down my throat. "Bye, Babe," I whispered to the empty room. "I'm so sorry I fucked everything up. I love you."


	11. Chapter 11

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Not mine. Characters belong to JE. I'm not making any money, just having fun.**

**Chapter 11 - Stephanie's POV**

When Lester and I got back from Vegas, we went straight from the airport to my apartment so I could get my car and follow him to his house in Princeton. It was only about twelve miles from Trenton to Princeton so it was pretty much perfect. I'd still be close to my family and friends, but wouldn't run into them or Ranger on a regular basis. I could pick and choose when to drive into Trenton and when to stay away.

I asked Lester about stopping at Rangeman to pick up Rex, but he said he'd be going there tomorrow anyway to let Tank know he was back and to see where things stood with Ranger. I knew he was doing it that way so I wouldn't have to go inside Rangeman and take the chance of running into Ranger. I appreciated that and agreed that I could wait one more day to see Rex.

I pulled into Lester's driveway and parked next to his SUV. Neither of us had checked our phone messages yet. We had planned on checking them before leaving for the airport, but changed our minds and decided to wait until we got home.

The house was a very nice looking custom built over-sized bi-level and the yard was immaculate. Beautiful pink and purple petunias bordered each side of the stone walkway leading to the front door and several more rows of petunias bordered the entire front of the house. I commented that the yard looked like it had just been mowed and he said that either Bobby or one of the other guys had probably been over to use the pool and mowed the lawn as a favor for use of the pool.

"You have a pool?" I asked with excitement.

"_We_ have a pool," Lester said with a wink. "We're a we now, remember? Our friends are going to think it strange if you keep speaking as though our lives are separate."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, it's going to take some getting used to."

We grabbed our bags from the back of Lester's truck and went inside. I remembered that Lester said he'd been renovating it and I could tell. Everything inside looked brand new. There wasn't a lot of furniture yet, but there was new beige Berber carpeting in the living room and I could see through the doorway into the dining and saw it had the same carpeting.

We set our bags down in the foyer and Lester grabbed my hand and pulled me back out on the porch. "Just want to see what this feels like," he said, scooping me up in his arms.

I started laughing as he carried me across the threshold bridal style. "You goof ball. At least you'll know how to do it when you and Diane get married," I told him.

Les gently deposited me back on my feet in the foyer. "From your lips to God's ears. I sure hope that woman is still available a year from now. Hey, the kitchen is right there to the right. Make yourself at home and grab a cold drink from the fridge while I take our bags to our rooms. I'm not the type to actually give tours, but you can wander around and check out whatever you want." He kissed the end of my nose and grabbed our bags.

"I'll just follow you, if that's okay. I'd like to see where I'll be sleeping for the next year."

"Sure, Beautiful, this way," he called over his shoulder. "I think you'll like your room. It's pretty big and has its own bathroom."

Lester stopped and put his bags down in the first bedroom we came to. It was done in browns and beiges and was very tasteful. He had a king size bed and the dresser, matching night stands and chest of drawers looked brand new and were make of oak. There was a large flat screen TV mounted on the wall across from the bed and a corner fireplace. Before I had a chance to check out his bathroom, he turned and walked out of the room and said, "Your room is right down here."

I followed him down the hallway to a room on the opposite side of the hall. It was also very large and I loved it right off the bat. It was done in shades of mauve, cream and soft tones of blue. It had a queen size bed and the furniture was identical to the furniture in his room. There was no fireplace, but there was a large screen TV and a sitting area with a desk and a book shelf filled with books. The closet was huge and would easily hold all my shoes and clothing.

The bathroom was large and sparking clean with a separate shower and tub. There was a long counter with two sinks and a pretty silk flower arrangement between them. Beside one of the sinks was a basket of colorful soaps and there was a big stack of fluffy white towels on a shelf that also held several bottles of shampoo, conditioner, bath salts and bubble bath.

"Very nice," I told him with a big smile.

"I'm glad you like it, Lester replied with a grin. "It would totally suck for you to be stuck here for a year and not like your room. "Of course, if you change your mind, there's plenty of room in my bed with me."

I thew him a look that was halfway between a glare and a smirk. "First day here and you're staring that already? What about Diane?"

"Relax." He ruffled my hair. "I was pretty much sort of just kidding, kind of, probably," he said with a silly grin that made me laugh.

I followed him back to the kitchen and he opened the refrigerator. "Beer, Coke, tea, water?"

"Coke would be great, thanks." I looked around the kitchen and noticed that everything in there also looked brand new. It was large and airy and a lot of light came in from a skylight and from the double sliding glass doors that led to a brick patio. I could see the pool and crossed the room to get a better look at it.

"Come on," Lester said, handing me my Coke. "We can relax out by the pool and check our phone messages at the same time."

I got my cell phone from my purse and followed him out through the patio door. We sat side by side in comfortable lounge chairs with blue and white flowered cushions and began listening to our voice messages.

Suddenly, Lester gave a fist pump and snapped his phone shut. "Beautiful! That was my bank, letting me know that an unusually large deposit has been sent to my account." He was grinning from ear to ear. "I need you to get Val and Albert's account number and routing number."

"That's wonderful! I'll call her right now."

"I'll run inside and get you a paper and pen, Les said, jumping up from his chair.

Needless to say, Val was excited when I called and told her I had the money and needed her account number. I wrote down the information and handed the paper to Lester who immediately called his bank to see what he needed to do to send the money anonymously.

When he hung up, he said, "Well, it's not going to be a hassle or anything, but I do need to go to the bank in person to take care of it. I have an appointment with the bank vice president tomorrow morning at nine a.m. I'm pretty sure he also wants to schmooze me a little to make sure I keep the money at his bank. Oh, before I go in the morning, I'll need your account number too."

"A lot of people would be schmoozing you right about now if they knew about the money," I told him, as I hit the button to check my next voice-mail.

I think the strangled sound of a sharp intake of breath came from me because I saw Lester's head snap up and he was looking at me with concern. "Beautiful, what's wrong?"

My hands were shaking and I almost dropped the phone as I tried to close it. Lester reached over and took the phone from me and squeezed my hand. "Steph, what is it?"

Finally, I found my voice. "People know, Les. That was Lula and she's totally pissed off. She wants to know how we could run off and get married without telling her and Connie."

Lester frowned. "Wow, that's weird. The only person who knows is Ranger and he certainly wouldn't gossip to Lula and Connie about it."

"I know. Do you think there's a chance he told Vinnie and the two of them were eavesdropping?"

Lester shrugged. "I suppose it's possible, but it doesn't seem likely. "Once you know what you want to say to her, you can call her back and ask her how she found out."

I took my phone back from him and listened to the rest of my voice-mails. There were four more from Lula and six from my mom. "My mother knows too," I informed Lester. She sounds monumentally ticked off."

"I thought she was always bugging you to settle down and get married?"

"Not like this, Les," I said with a laugh. "She wanted me to marry someone she knows from the Burg. Preferably Joe Morelli. She wanted a big reception and she wanted to be the one to plan it and tell me exactly how everything would be."

Lester dropped his phone onto his lap and ran his hands through his sassy, light brown spikes. "Hunh. Well, I guess when you look at it like that, chances are she's going to be pissed."

I started laughing. "You're going with me when I go talk to her tomorrow," I told him.

"Of course I'm going with you. I'm not afraid of your mother, just your grandma."

"We'll see," I said with an eye roll. "My mother is going to want to roast both our asses alive."

"Pfffft. Steph, really, I'm not afraid of her and I don't want you to be either. It's your life. Does she consult you on things that have to do with her life?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Okay, then, I'll be happy to point that out to her tomorrow. I'm not going to be rude to her unless she's rude to you, but I'm not going to let her browbeat you over this. You're my wife and I'll protect you, like a good husband," he finished with a grin.

"This should be interesting," I told him. I wish I could be a fly on the wall tomorrow instead of the bad daughter, shaking in her boots, in the dining room. Changing the subject, I asked, "Did you have any weird calls?"

"No, not weird, but Tank called twice and said nothing but _call me_ before hanging up. I'm thinking Ranger may have told him what we did. I wonder if Ranger told Tank and Tank told Lula."

"Maybe. Guess we'll find out as soon as we speak to one of them, but I don't feel like calling anyone back at the moment. I'm starving. You hungry?"

"I am, actually. Let's go inside and call for pizza. Everything I have that would be good is frozen."

We stood up and with no warning at all, Lester grabbed me up in his arms and twirled me around. "We're rich, Beautiful. Filthy, freakin' rich!"

I started laughing. "I know. I don't feel any different though, do you?"

He put me down and headed toward the patio door. "Not yet, but I bet we'll feel different when we see our bank balances in writing and spend some of it."

The next morning, I gave Lester my account number and routing number before he left for the bank. I was going to go get a couple loads of clothing and personal items from my apartment and then meet him at my mother's house at eleven a.m.

"Listen," Lester said. "When I get to your parents' house, I'm not going to be able to say anything out loud to let you know if Val's deposit went through without a hitch. So, if the money is in her account and everything is settled, I'll just give you a thumbs-up."

I stood on my tip-toes and kissed his cheek. "That'll work," I told him.

When I finally got to my parents' house, I was surprised to see that Lula's red Firebird and Mary Lou's blue mini van were parked out front. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on.

I got out of my car and when I looked up at the front door, I saw my mom and grandma waiting for me. My mother wasted no time when I walked in the door. "Stephanie Michelle Plum, you have some serious explaining to do."

"Good to see you too, mom," I said, walking past her into the dining room. Standing side by side by side at one end of the table were Connie, Lula and Mary Lou. Connie's arms were down at her side, Mary Lou's arms were crossed and Lula's hands were in tight fists, like she was ready to punch someone.

"What's up?" I asked with a frown. What are all of you doing here?"

Lula spoke up first. "We're waitin' for you to tell us what the heck's goin' on with you and Lester," she said. Her voice sounded hurt.

I knew my mom and grandma had come in the room behind me, but I ignored them. "How did you know I'd be here this morning?" I asked with great curiosity.

I passed you on your way to the Burg," Mary Lou informed me. "I called Connie and Lula to let them know."

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Connie and Lula. "How did you get here before me if Mary Lou called you when she saw me on my way here?"

"Lula drove," Connie said with a shrug. I guess that explained everything. Lula was known for having a lead foot, especially when she was on a mission and this appeared to be some kind of mission.

"Enough of this idle chit-chat," my mother said, walking over to stand next to Mary Lou. "Is it true that you married one of those thugs from Rangeman?"

Oh my God, there she goes with the thugs comment again. Just as I opened my mouth to defend the guys at Rangeman, there was a knock at the door. Thank God, it had to be Lester. "I'll get it!" I told them, hurrying to the door.

I opened the door a few inches and peeked out. I was right, it was Lester, and he had a big grin on his face. He gave me a thumbs-up and I flung the door open, squealing with happiness. When he stepped inside, I jumped up in his arms and he slid his arms around my waist and twirled me around. "Thumbs-up for both you and Val," he whispered in my ear. We both laughed and hugged each other tightly.

When he put me down and we turned toward the dining room, four sets of stunned eyes were taking in the scene. Everyone looked stunned except grandma who said, "So, you finally landed one with a great package. And, he's a real looker."

I grinned at my grandma, then my eyes shifted to my mother who started walking slowly towards us. Holy shit, I hope she wasn't going to try to hit one of us. Then, I realized that she wasn't looking at me, at all. He eyes were fixed on Lester, who stood rooted to the spot where he'd set me down.

The room was quiet and everyone held their breath as she stopped in front of Les. "You make her happy," she said softly, with wonder in her voice. "Really happy. I've never seen her this happy."

Lester glanced at me. Suddenly we both realized that because none of them knew about the money, we'd inadvertently given them the impression that we'd acted that way because we were in love and happy to see each other.

He opened his mouth to reply to my mom, but she cut him off. "Dickie didn't make her that happy. Joe never made her that happy. Goodness knows that none of the normal things that make most young women happy ever made Stephanie happy. But, you do." It was like my mother was in a trance of some kind.

Finally, Lester had a chance to speak. "Well, to tell you the truth, Mrs. Plum, I only married Steph because I heard about your wonderful cooking and that if I play my cards right, we'll get invited to dinner once a week."

I saw a blush creep over my mom's face. Connie, Lula and Mary Lou all exchanged a shocked look.

My mom took Lester by the arm and said, "Aren't you just the sweetest thing? And you're not dressed in all black. Why don't you come in the kitchen with me so we can get acquainted and we'll let the girls talk."

I'm pretty sure Les was a little stunned, we all were, but he leaned down and gave me a kiss on the forehead and followed my mom to the kitchen.

I turned my attention to my grandma and friends. "Well, that went well."

"Yeah," said Connie. "I'll be damned."

"Yeah," said Mary Lou. "I'm still shocked, Steph, but I'm so thrilled to know that you're happy."

"Yeah," said Lula. Somethin' still ain't right, but I'm glad you're happy, too. You are happy, right? I mean, you two look really happy."

"Yes, we're pretty thrilled," I told them. Not necessarily about the married, but I couldn't say that out loud.

"Still don't explain how you could do this to Batman," Lula said, hand on her ample hip.

"Can we talk about that at the bonds office next time I'm there?" I pleaded.

"Damn skippy we will," Lula said. "Come on, Connie, we need to get back to the office."

Mary Lou gave me a hug and left with Connie and Lula and I found myself alone with grandma.

"So, what made you decide to get married?" grandma asked.

"You saw him," I told her. "He asked and I couldn't resist. Can you blame me?"

"Nope," grandma said. "I wish he'd asked me," she said with a wink.

I grinned at grandma and headed to the kitchen to check on Lester and my mom. When I walked in, I found Lester wearing an apron and standing at the stove next to my mom. "Just a bit more rosemary," he told her, "and it'll be perfect."

"I think you're right," my mom said, reaching to grab the jar of rosemary from the spice rack. "When you get a chance, we'll have to exchange meat loaf recipes, Lester."

"You got it," Les told her. "But, I'm sure yours is much better than mine."

I bit my lips to keep from laughing out loud. Les was such a suck up and my mom was eating it up. "Is this a private party?" I asked them, moving further into the kitchen.

They looked up at me at the same time. I got the strangest feeling that the two of them had forgotten I was even in the house. Maybe Lester wasn't sucking up. Maybe he was actually bonding with my mother. The thought sent a shiver right trough me. If they were indeed bonding, then there was going to be hell to pay when Les and I divorced a year from now. Oh well, like the good little queen of denial I am, I shoved that thought to the back of my mind and decided to worry about it later.

A/N Thank you so much for the feedback and the PM's. I appreciate them all so much! For those who told me you are still worried, I PROMISE this is a BABE HEA story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Not my characters. They belong to JE. Not making any money.**

**Chapter 12 - Lester's POV**

Steph and I were sitting at the kitchen table, lingering over a second cup of coffee. I'd made us a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. I swear, Steph ate as much as I did. I've never understood how she could keep her slim figure and flat stomach with the way she liked to eat and her lack of exercise. Maybe she burned off enough calories chasing after skips. Hardly any of her skips came back into the system willingly, so it was a definite possibility.

"That whole scene at your mom's house yesterday was freaky," I told her. I noticed your dad wasn't around, though. How do you think he's taking it?"

Steph picked up her last bite of toast, pressed it to a small bite of egg on her plate, then popped it in her mouth. I took another sip of my coffee and waited for her to finish chewing and swallowing so she could answer me.

"Daddy was probably out driving his cab yesterday. I think he'll be fine with it, truthfully. All he really wants is for me to be happy and if my mom tells him I'm happy, he'll be relieved in two ways. One, he'll be happy that I'm happy. And two, he'll be thankful that he won't have to listen to my mother tell him what a dreadful mistake I've made with my life and how I've humiliated her yet again."

I picked up my plate, cup and silverware and carried them to the dishwasher. "She's never actually said you've humiliated her, has she, Beautiful?"

Steph laughed derisively. "Are you kidding me? She's told me that more times than I can count."

I bit my lip and had to tamp down the anger I felt. Mrs. Plum had seemed nice enough yesterday, but she'd sure done a number on Stephanie over the years. "Come with me, Beautiful. The building of your self confidence starts today." I reached out my hand to her.

"What? You were serious about that? Lester, you don't have to ..."

"Beautiful!" I said, interrupting her. "I was dead serious. I know how this works, and one year from now, possibly sooner, you're going to be very happy we did this."

She gave me a halfhearted eye roll and stood up, placing her hand in mine. I led her back to her bedroom, then guided her into her bathroom.

"We're not going to shower together to build my confidence, are we?" she asked nervously.

That made me chuckle. "Not today, Beautiful, but if my other plan doesn't work, we can keep that in mind." I groaned when I saw the sheer pale blue Victoria's Secret bra she'd tossed across the shower curtain rod. "Beautiful, I'm happy to split up the chores around here just about any way you'd like, but you may not want me in charge of laundering your unmentionables, if you ever want to see them again," I told her with a grin.

Steph laughed. "You'd steal my underwear, Lester?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I'm saying, let's not take any chances. On a good day, I wouldn't. Two, three months without sex, who knows what I'll be doing? Sneaking bras into my sock drawer. Tucking panties under my pillow. I could turn into a wreckless garment snatcher," I told her with a grin.

"You're hysterical," she said laughing again. Now, let's get this lesson over with so you can go get Rex and ... and see how things stand at Rangeman."

"You mean, see if Ranger let's me live long enough to bring Rex home." I saw her shoulders slump and was sorry I said that.

"Okay," Beautiful. Forget all that." I turned her around so we were both looking into her mirror. "Every morning, you're going to start the day with a positive affirmation and you're going to repeat it, out loud, twenty times while looking at yourself in the mirror. You can also repeat it to yourself several times throughout the day when it pops into your head. The more often you do it, the more it'll pop into your head. The more it pops into your head, the more you'll start to believe it."

I could tell she was curious and I met her eyes in the mirror. "Okay, look at yourself in the mirror and repeat after me. I'm a wise, beautiful, strong, confident woman."

I saw the color creep into her face and noticed that she couldn't look at me or herself in the mirror. "Les, I can't ... that just seems ..." her voice trailed off.

I put my arms around and pulled her back against me, then kissed the top of her head. "You can do this, Beautiful," I said softly. "Just the fact that you think you can't is a really good reason to make yourself do it. You _are_ beautiful, Steph, and you're smart and funny and kind and sexy, but you need to work on your confidence. You need to know that you deserve good things in your life. That you don't have to put up with your mother berating you. That it's okay to allow a good, decent man into your life. That it's okay to go after whatever goals you set in life. Now, let's try it again. Look at yourself in the mirror."

I kept my arms around her for moral support and watched as she chewed on her bottom lip, trying to get up the courage to do as I'd asked. "Ready?" I prompted. "I'm a wise, beautiful, strong, confident woman."

Slowly, she lifted her head and looked at herself in the mirror. "I ... I'm a wise, b ... beautiful, strong, confident woman."

"Excellent!" I told her, giving her another kiss on her head. "Again."

She took a deep breath. "I'm a wise, beautiful, strong, confident woman."

"Amazing!" I encouraged her. "Again!"

Once she'd repeated it twenty times, she was actually smiling at herself. I knew it would take quite a while to actually cause any meaningful change in her, but the seed was planted and I was going to water it and give it lots of sunshine and help it grow.

Before leaving for Rangeman, I asked her what she had planned for the day.

"I'm going to go get some more things from my apartment and bag up a bunch of stuff that can go in the dumpster. I'll let Dillon know that I won't be living there any longer and that I'll have all my things out by the end of the month. I don't really have anything planned after that."

"Not going by the bonds office to see Lula and Connie? We never did find out how they heard we were married."

"Not today. I'm not ready to talk to them again, just yet. I'm going to give them a few more days to get used to the idea that we're married."

I grabbed my keys from the bowl on the kitchen counter. "Okay, well, I took some chicken breasts out of the freezer to thaw. You like chicken fajitas, right?"

Her face lit up. "I love chicken fajitas! It's one of the few things I'll eat that has vegetables in it. Normally, I don't eat green pepper and I don't eat things with onion very often."

"Sweet," I said. "Tonight I'm going to show you how to make them."

"Cooking lessons, too?" she said with a frown. "What the hell have I signed up for here?"

I couldn't help but smile at her. "They're simple, Steph. And, once you help me with them this one time, you'll know the secret of making great fajitas the rest of your life."

She shrugged. "Okay, I guess that doesn't sound like a bad idea." She paused and then smiled at me. "Thanks for being such a great guy, Lester."

I leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Thanks for marrying me, Beautiful. Rex and I will see you back here, later this afternoon."

I pulled into the garage at Rangeman, parked my truck, and made my way straight to the fifth floor. Tank was standing by the bay of monitors talking with Hal and Vince, but turned when he heard the elevator door open. He nodded to me, then tilted his head toward his office, indicating I should follow him.

I said hello to Vince and Hal first. Vince greeted me as usual, but Hal glared at me like he was none too happy with me. Great. I wondered how many of the guys were going to give me an attitude.

I followed Tank into his office and flopped down into the chair in front of his desk. "How's it going, man?" I asked him.

Tank spent a minute studying my face before answering. "Good question, Santos. Anything you want to tell me?"

Fuck. He was going to give me an attitude too. Fine. If he had a problem with me, he'd just have to deal with it. "Yeah, there are a couple of things. One, I got married. Two, I want to know if I still have a job here, and three, if I do, I want to add my wife to my insurance."

Tank scrubbed his hands over his face and sat quietly for another minute. Finally, he broke the silence. "Why'd you do it, Les? Why Stephanie?"

"Why do people normally get married?" I asked him.

"My point exactly, Lester. You and Stephanie aren't in love."

"That's your opinion. Why is this any of your business?" I threw back at him. He was trying to keep his cool, but I could see the anger building in him.

"It's my business, because you're killing my best friend. _Your_ cousin. One of _your _best friends," he ground out.

"Are you saying Ranger had plans to marry Steph?"

"No, you know he didn't have any plans for marriage."

"Oh, so you're saying that he was planning to offer her some other type of commitment? Some kind of exclusive relationship? That at some fucking point in time in the next ten or twenty years he was actually going to make a move?"

Tank didn't respond to any of that. We both knew Ranger loved her, but we both knew he'd done nothing about it for over three years now.

"How long was Steph supposed to wait, Tank? Be honest here."

Tank blew out a loud sigh. "Les, whether he was ever going to make a move or not, is beside the point. You married the only woman he's ever loved. Out of all the hundreds of women you know, why Steph?"

I shifted in my chair. Fuck. I knew Ranger loved Steph and I knew he'd be upset, but I'd always felt that if he loved her enough, he'd overcome whatever was holding him back and claim her. Now I was feeling guilty and pissed off that Tank was so willing to rub in the guilt. "Tank, how many women do you know who are more honest, more sincere, more kind-hearted and more beautiful than Steph?"

I could see Tank running through a mental list in his head. "Probably none," he finally said.

"Well, you wanted to know why I picked her out of all the hundreds of women I know and there's your answer." I paused for a moment, then asked, "Is Ranger here?"

"Nope, and I don't know where he is. He ditched the tracker on the turbo, took off, and isn't answering his phone."

"Shit! You think he's okay?" Now I was getting worried. I knew he'd be upset, but I was hoping he'd be here, ready to take me to the mats rather than going into the wind.

"No idea," Tank said glumly. "I'm going to give him a few more days to work through this and if I don't hear from him, I guess I'll start tracking him down."

We were quiet for a few minutes. I was staring at my Nikes and Tank was staring at me. There was a soft knock on the door. "Enter," Tank commanded.

The door swung open and Bobby walked in. He gave me a soft cuff on the back of the head and said, "Welcome back, bro."

"Thanks, man. Good to know you're still speaking to me."

Bobby glanced at Tank and then shifted his gaze back to me. "You're my best friend, Les. Of course I'm speaking to you. I _will_ find out why you kept something this important from _me_ though. I'm hurt, man. What the fuck, Lester?"

I looked up at my friend. "You on duty or off?"

"Off."

"Let me finish with Tank, here, and I'll meet you down stairs in a few minutes."

Bobby nodded and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

"So, I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to keep working here," I told Tank. I really doubt Ranger's going to want me around."

Tank put his elbows on the the desk and laced his fingers together, then rested his chin on his hands. "What are your plans if you don't work here?"

"I've got my eye on a small business I'm thinking of buying."

Tank nodded. "Well, the only problem is, I'm short-handed with both you and Ranger off the grid."

I thought about it for a minute. "I'd be happy to be on call until Ranger comes back. If you have a big take-down or a have a problem, call me. Who knows, Ranger will probably be back before the deal is worked out with my business."

I could see Tank chewing on the inside of his cheek. This was a tough conversation for both of us. I knew he was angry with me, but we'd been friends for a long time and had worked together for years. We were the first two employees Ranger brought on board when he opened Rangeman and of course we'd served in the Rangers together before that. We'd had each others backs in one way or another for many years.

"Okay, man," he finally said. "I'm sorry things are working out this way."

"Yeah, me too." I rose from my chair, reached over the desk, and gave him a knuckle bump. "Let me know when you hear from Ranger. I really do want to know that he's okay."

Tank nodded and I left his office. I went to the break room and grabbed Rex's cage and headed for the garage. I ran into Cal on the stairs. He was on his way up as I was on my way down. "What's happening, man?" I asked him.

Cal smiled. "I think I should be asking you that, Santos. You sure shocked the hell out of everyone around here."

"Seems that way. Looks like Hal is pretty pissed at me."

Cal shrugged. You know Hal. He'll take Ranger's side in anything and everything."

I nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. I'm cool with that. Listen, I gotta go, Bobby's waiting for me downstairs."

Cal clapped me on the arm and continued up the stairs. "Congratulations," he said over his shoulder. "And tell Steph I said congrats, too."

"I will. Thanks, Cal."

I found Bobby waiting for me in the garage. He was leaning back against my truck, chewing on a toothpick. "Can I buy you a beer, Les?"

"Can't," I said, holding up Rex's cage. It's too hot to leave him in the truck and I don't think there are a lot of places that would allow me to take him inside. Why don't you come over for a beer?"

"You don't think Steph will mind?" he asked.

"Why would Steph mind?" I asked him with a frown. "She likes you, Brown. Besides, I don't even know if she'll be there. She was going to go over to her apartment to sort through her clothes and stuff."

"Well, okay, then. Let's go."

Bobby followed me home and went straight to the basement, while I grabbed a couple beers from the fridge. When I found him, he was leaning over the pool table, lining up a shot. I stood still until he was finished, then handed him a beer. "Nice shot Brown. I though you were going to catch the four ball, too."

"I wanted to, but I'm still not up to your skill level when it comes to this damn game." He took a long guzzle from his beer, then pointed the end of his cue stick toward me. "I can still kick your ass on the golf course though."

I flopped down on one of the recliners that were off to the side of the pool table and shifted around until I was comfortable. "Maybe not for long. Steph and I are thinking about buying that go kart place off the expressway. I'll be able to practice on the driving range every day while you're chasing down skips and patching people up."

Bobby frowned and walked over to put his cue stick back in the rack on the wall. He came over and sat in the other recliner, but instead of sitting back and getting comfortable, he was sitting forward, studying my face. "You're leaving Rangeman?" he finally asked.

"Looks like it," I told him. "From what I understand, Ranger's pretty pissed off."

"Yeah, I think he's more than pissed off, Les. He's hurt and upset."

"Yeah. So, how did everyone find out I got married? I know Ranger didn't run around telling everyone."

Bobby related the story about Ranger and Lula's conversation in the bonds office and told me about the picture Joyce had sent to her phone. He also told me what Lula said about Ranger being unshaved and looking really shaken up.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead with my fingers. "Man, this sure isn't the way I was hoping things would go."

I opened my eyes when Bobby have a derisive laugh. "Were you really expecting it to go well?"

I shrugged. "I don't know what I expected, but I was _hoping _it would go well. We didn't mean to upset everyone."

Bobby drained his beer bottle and set it on a coaster on the end table between our chairs. "Les, you had to know everyone would be stunned. No one had a clue you and Steph were seeing each other. Hell, I'm your best friend and I didn't know. How come you never said anything and why jump into marriage? And Steph? It's just as weird to think of her getting married as it is to think of you getting married."

I shrugged my shoulders again. "Steph and I are really good for each other, Bobby. I guess we just didn't want the hassle of her family and everyone sticking their nose in and making a big deal out of something we wanted to keep simple."

Just then, we heard a car door outside and I said, "Listen, Bobby, please don't say anything to Steph about how upset Ranger is. I'll talk to her about it later, when she and I are alone."

"No problem," Bobby agreed as we rose from our chairs. "Let's go upstairs so I can say hello to her. Oh, and congratulations, bud." He cupped the back of my neck with one of his big hands and we shared a brief man hug.

We found Steph in the kitchen, dropping small bites of carrot and some Cheerios into Rex's cage and chatting to him in a sing-song voice. She turned when she heard us come up the basement steps and gave us both a dazzling smile. "Hey guys," she greeted us.

"Hey, Beautiful." I walked over and slung my around around he neck and when she looked up at me I gave her a light kiss on her forehead, nose and lips which got me another gorgeous smile.

She turned her attention to Bobby and walked over to give him a hug. Bobby held out his arms and pulled her against him. "Congratulations, Bomber."

"Thanks Bobby," she said against his chest. "Can you stay for lunch?"

Bobby looked surprised and glanced from Steph to me and back to Steph. "Nah, I'll come over and bring dinner one night soon, but I know you newlyweds just got back, so I'll leave you alone for a couple weeks. Then I'll be back over to use the pool and play pool, if that's okay with you."

"Of course it's okay with me," Steph said with genuine warmth. "I'd love to see all my Merry Men on a regular basis."

Suddenly a thought occurred to me and I excused myself and headed down the hall. I hurried into Steph's room and grabbed a bra and pair of panties from her underwear drawer and locked her door on my way out. Then, I stopped in my room and tossed them on the bed. It had suddenly dawned on me that it was going to look pretty strange to people if they suspected Steph and I had separate rooms. We'd have to talk about it later and see what we could work out.

Over lunch, I talked to Steph about the money. I told he we both needed to get a financial advisor and move some of the money around. Regular accounts are only insured up to $50,000 so it couldn't just sit where it was. We decided to pick someone out of town so no one in Trenton would see us coming and going from a financial advisor's office. Once we were done with that discussion, I broached the subject of Ranger.

I could see her getting more and more tense as I told her about my conversation with Tank. When I shared the story about Lula's and Ranger's encounter, I saw her trying to hold back her tears. "I reached out and rubbed my hand up and down her arm. "Steph, I'm sorry. If I knew where he was, I go try to talk to him, but Tank doesn't even know where he is. Hopefully, he'll hear from him soon and he said he'd let me know."

She nodded, but didn't reply. I saw her bottom lip trembling as she stood and started to clear the table. I helped her and everything was cleaned up in about ten minutes. Now I needed to figure out a way to get her mind on something more pleasant. I really didn't know if it would be better if Ranger came back or if he stayed away. Either way, it was going to be a long year if Steph had too much time to dwell on him. I just wished we knew if he was okay.

I put my arms around her and pulled her against my chest. "Everything will eventually work out fine," I told her softly, hoping I sounded convincing.

She nodded her head and let me hold her for a minute, the pushed gently against my chest. "Les, I need to use the bathroom."

I released her and swatted her gently on the behind as she walked away. She got part way down the hallway when I heard her yell, "Lester Santos! What the heck is my underwear doing on your bed, Mister?"

I chuckled and headed down the hallway to explain.

**A/N - Thank you again for the reviews, feedback and PM's. It's so neat to hear from all of you. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Wrong Man at the Right Time **

**Don't own the characters. Not making any money**

**Chapter 13 Lester's POV**

Steph and I have been back from Vegas for two weeks, and according to Tank, there's still no word from Ranger. Apparently Ranger went so far as either having his phone disconnected or changing his number. Tank has Rodriguez trying to track down the new number. If one exists. If anyone could be successful at disappearing, it would be Ranger, and if anyone could find a missing person, it would be Tank and Rodriguez.

The guys at Rangeman are still pretty divided on how they feel about me. Bobby, Vince, Binky, Cal and Ram are all on speaking terms with me, even though I'm sure they're still scratching their heads about the whole marriage thing. Hal is still mad and still not speaking to me. Tank is still mad, but trying to get over it. Hector hates my guts and told me he'd kill me if I hurt Steph. Ella just frowns and shakes her head sadly when she sees me. Junior doesn't seem to care one way or the other and acts like nothing happened.

Steph, Lula, Connie and Mary Lou are all back on pretty good terms. I bought Steph a beautiful wedding ring set with an impressive diamond and that went a long way in making the ladies think I was an alright kind of guy. Also, Steph took them all to lunch and paid for it so that was a big hit too. Lula is still ragging on her a bit about Ranger, but Steph seems to be handling it as well as can be expected.

Mrs. Plum has called me a couple times to discuss food and recipes and to let me know about specials going on at Sal's Meat Market and I called her once to ask her about Steph's favorite foods and to chat for a bit. I figured it was the least I could do since I really want her to start treating Steph better than she has in the past. Lord only knows what kind of hell is going to be unleashed a year from now, when Helen finds out we're getting a divorce and she's not getting any more grandchildren.

I'd just gotten home after delivering my Mercedes to its new owner and I was in the kitchen making a pitcher of Long Island iced tea. I looked out through the sliding glass door and saw Steph lying in the sun, working on her tan. She was feeling much more relaxed the past couple of days. She was happy that Val and Albert didn't have to worry about the money for Albert's cancer treatment and even more thrilled that they'd agreed not to say anything to anyone about the money. They weren't going to outright lie about it, they were just going to let Val and Steph's parents assume they still had insurance and that it was covering the treatment and paying for Albert's loss of work.

She hasn't mentioned Ranger for a couple days now, but last night I saw her on the computer trying to find a search engine online that could be used to track down missing persons. After a couple hours, I heard her sigh wearily as she closed the cover on her laptop.

She's doing her morning affirmations every day without me having to remind her and I saw a new determination in her eyes when she left her bathroom this morning after saying them. I also hear her saying them sometimes at night when her bedroom and bathroom doors are both open.

I put the pitcher of Long Island iced tea in the refrigerator to chill, cleaned up my mess, and went out back to the pool. Steph raised her head and smiled at me. "Hi honey, I'm home," I told her with a wink.

She rolled her eyes and gave me a small laugh. "How'd everything go with the car deal?"

"Great. The guy had a cashier's check just like he promised he would and I already stopped at the bank and deposited it." I flopped down in one of the lounge chairs and tried not to look at Steph's ass in her cute pink two piece bathing suit. Thank God she wasn't wearing a bikini or some type of thong thing.

"You want anything special for dinner tonight?" I asked her.

She thought about it for a moment and shook her head. "Nah. How about you?"

"I think I'll show you how to make stuffed pork chops tonight. They're wonderful and easy to make."

"Okay," she said with enthusiasm. She was really enjoying our time in the kitchen. I didn't put any pressure on her at all. I just gave her simple instructions and had her help with chopping and mixing and explained to her what I was doing as we went along.

She turned over on her blanket and I had to avert my eyes from her cleavage. The no sex thing was definitely the hardest part about this whole fake marriage thing. Well, the hardest part was worrying about Ranger. The lack of sex was getting to me though. I'd promised her I wouldn't put any pressure on her or even ask her and I intended to keep that promise.

My phone rang and I grabbed if off the clip on my belt and answered it. When I hung up, I rose from my chair. "That was Vince," I told Steph. He's in Edison picking up a skip and he has a flat tire on his truck. His skip is going nuts on him and Rangeman is too short handed to send someone out to help him. I told him I'm come bail him out."

"You're a good friend, Lester," she said with a smile.

"It's the least I can do, Beautiful. Vince was the first Rangeman to speak to me when we got back from Vegas. I'll probably be gone a couple hours."

"That's fine," she told me. "I'm going to go shower and finish filling out that investment portfolio questionnaire Mr. Rossi gave me the other day."

Usually, I kiss her on the head or nose when I'm leaving, but I didn't think it was a good idea to get that close to her when she was wearing a bathing suit, so I blew her a kiss and she blew one back to me.

When I got back home from helping Vince with his flat tire, I washed my hands at the kitchen sink and opened the refrigerator to get the pitcher of Long Island iced tea that I'd made earlier. It was gone, so I went looking for Steph. I found her sitting at the desk in the den with her laptop open in front of her. The pitcher of tea was on the desk and it was more than half gone. A half filled glass was in front of her.

"Hey, Beautiful," I said as I approached the desk. I leaned down and planted a kiss on top her head and was rewarded with a gorgeous smile.

"Hey, Lesser," she slurred out.

I couldn't help but grin. "I see you found the tea," Steph.

"Yes, thane you, is wunnerful."

I barked out a laugh. "Steph, you know that isn't regular tea, right?" I picked up her glass and chugged what was left in it.

"Hey! Tha was my tea," she objected.

"How many glasses of this have you had?"

"Fiversix. They're scrumtuousificant."

I couldn't help but laugh again. She was so darn cute. "Steph, those are Long Island iced teas."

"I'm not a racist, don care where they camfrom," she informed me.

"Are you drunk, Beautiful?"

"Is that an acculisation or jess an incleary?"

"It's just an incleary, I mean inquiry," I assured her.

"Mebby. You wanna go makeout?"

Now I was grinning from ear to ear. "I'd make out with you most any time, but I'm not sure it's a good idea when you've been drinking."

"I'm a superlicious kisser when I been drinking, Lesser."

I moved behind her to rub her shoulders and took a better look at her laptop screen. "I'm sure you are, Beautiful. Steph, why are you looking at Fleshlights?"

"I'mma order yousum, Mr. Studly-Matic."

I barked out another laugh. "Why? I don't need one Fleshlight, let alone multiple Fleshlights."

"They jiss incase," she informed me.

"Just in case of what? I have two perfectly good hands. Besides, when this year is up, I'll have a lot of fun. Either I'll be getting together with Diane, or if that doesn't work out, I plan to have sex with every available female within a ten mile radius."

Steph snorted. "That iccludes grammamazur."

I almost gagged at the thought. "Okay, every available female in a nine mile radius," I corrected myself.

Steph got up from her chair and I reached out a hand to steady her. "Beautiful, you're pretty hammered."

She tried to roll her eyes, but I think it made her dizzy. "My head's on crooket," she said with a laugh. "But I can still makeout with you, Lesser."

I had a hand on each of her shoulders and looked down at her sassy brown curls and twinkling blue eyes. I sighed. This really is going to be a long year. "Okay, Steph, tell you what. Let's go make out in your bed, okay?"

She grinned at me. "K. Kenya help me get there?"

"You betcha," I said, swinging her up in my arms. I carried her to her room and deposited her on her bed. "Now, you slip into something sexy and I'll be back in five minutes, okay?" I knew she'd be out like a light as soon as I left the room.

"K, sexy, Lesser." She flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes.

I gently turned her around so her legs and feet were on the bed and grabbed a light blanket from the linen closet to cover her.

I quietly closed her door on the way out and went to retrieve the rest of the pitcher of tea. I thought about getting hammered too, but I really wanted stuffed pork chops tonight, so I took the pitcher into the kitchen and flipped through my recipe cards til I found the right one. I looked up at the calendar on the wall and sighed. Looks like 349 more days to go, I calculated in my head. My thoughts drifted to Stephanie and Ranger and my lack of a sex life. Maybe I'd just get out the meat mallet and pound the shit out of the chops.

A/N Thanks for reading, everyone! I appreciate so many of you following along and sending feedback. I love reading your reviews!


	14. Chapter 14

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

Characters belong to JE. I'm using them for fun, not profit.

**Chapter 14 Ranger's POV**

It's been three months since my Babe married another man and I left town. I haven't been in touch with anyone at Rangeman. Hell, I don't even know if the place is still standing. I'm so lost in my own self pity, I'm just letting everything I've worked so hard for fall by the wayside. I'm sure Tank is doing a great job, but I know there are some types of new contracts he can't sign, so the amount of new business they would have been able to bring in during the past twelve weeks would be down. I don't really care, but I'm sure it bothers Tank. Probably, I should get in touch with him soon.

I'm in Belchertown, Massachusetts at the moment. I've been traveling up and down the eastern seaboard stopping in small towns in order to stay under the radar. I dumped the turbo because I figured if Tank was looking for me, that's what he'd be looking for. I sold it way under value for cash. I had a small lock box that I'd kept in the turbo with fake ID's and credit cards and all that jazz, but I knew I could move around undetected a lot easier if I used cash whenever possible. I'm now driving around in a five year old Ford Taurus. No one would suspect that, right?

Some nights, I hit a pool hall and play for money. Most of the time I win, unless I'm too far gone on the Jack Daniels. Other nights, I find a poker game and play until the wee hours of the morning, then sleep half the day the next day.

I keep telling myself I need to get over this whole mess and get my life back together, but taking that first step seems ridiculously hard. Every night I tell myself that tomorrow I'll call Tank and get my ass back to Trenton, then morning comes, and I decide to put if off for one more day. I think I'm having some kind of mid-life crisis, though I never believed in that kind of thing in the past. It's like I worked really hard all my life to get to a certain point, and when I got there, I met a woman who meant more to me than anything I acquired along the way. Then, I fucked up and lost her. Let her just walk away without a fight. I never could say 'no' to her and when she said she wanted to marry Lester, I was thrown for such a colossal loop, I just walked away and crawled into a dark hole.

I came to Belchertown from Sanford, Maine where I actually spent some time fishing when I wasn't drunk. I found out I really enjoy fishing. You know me, I have the patience to sit for hours waiting for the fish to bite. It's sort of like surveillance, except it's a lot more fun to catch a fish than it is a piece of crap skip. Plus, I can just toss the fish back instead of having to transport it to the police department. Can't beat that. Maybe one of these days, I'll build a fire and cook some of them. And, unlike working a distraction job, I don't need a curly haired brunette to lure the fish out of the water. Shit. I meant to not think about her.

Every day, I tell myself not to think about her, but of course my mind doesn't listen. I get this redundant loop going in my head and sometimes it takes hours and a half a bottle of Jack to get it to go away. I remind myself that she's married now, but that doesn't keep my heart from loving her or my body from aching for her.

I know some day I'm going to walk away from the booze and all this aimless wandering around, but I don't know yet when that day will be. Maybe I need to find another woman to get my Babe out of my thoughts.

Plenty of women come on to me in the bars, even on nights I don't bother to shave. I just ignore them or brush them off, but maybe I should give one of them a whirl one of these nights. Maybe I'll do that tonight. Maybe I'll even shave. I have clean clothes. Washed them myself at a laundromat yesterday. That was about as exciting as watching paint dry. Surveillance and fishing are one thing, doing laundry sucks donkey balls. I can handle most any household chore, if I have to, but I'll pay someone to do the laundry any day. Unfortunately, that's not an option right now.

I hauled my ass off the bed in my hotel room and took a hot shower, then shaved. I dressed in some clean clothes and headed out to the bar. There was one within walking distance of the hotel and that was a good thing, considering how shit-faced I get some nights.

Five minutes later, I was sliding onto a barstool. I've been in Belchertown for a few days now, so the bartender, Jim, recognized me. "Usual?" he asked, wiping down the top of the bar in front of me.

"Yeah, that'll do," I told him. I wasn't usually in the mood for smalltalk and tonight was no exception.

Jim set a bottle of Heineken and a shot of Jack Daniels in front of me and I was on my way, but I remembered that I might want to get laid tonight, so I kept in mind that maybe I shouldn't get quite as hammered as usual.

I was minding my own business and watching a game on the TV above the bar, when a dark haired woman hoisted herself up on the barstool next to me. I gave her a quick glance and then turned my attention back to the game. I'd been here for almost two hours and was feeling no pain, if you know what I mean.

After a few minutes, I diverted my eyes from the TV and looked around for Jim so I could get another round, when the dark haired woman spoke to me. "My name's Jackie," she told me, holding out her hand.

I stared at her for a minute, then stuck out my hand. "Ric," I told her. I'm still the master of the one word answers. She looked to be between 30 and 35. She was pretty, but not beautiful, and she had a nice smile and a good figure. She was dressed quite a bit better than most of the women in the place, but not over-dressed. She looked nice and she wanted to hook up. Good. Now I don't have to look for someone.

I bought her a drink and we talked for a few minutes and the next thing I knew, I was in her car, letting her drive me to her house. Not sure what I was thinking. Probably, I wasn't. For once I was just going to let my dick do the thinking like I did in my younger days.

Her house was only a couple miles from my hotel and that was good because I knew if things went south I could just walk back. The house was small and neat and the furniture was modern. She told me to have a seat on the couch and said she was going to change into something more comfortable. Comfortable is nice, but naked was what I was going to be going for.

I looked around the living room while waiting for her to come back. There were some framed pictures on the coffee table, but I'd had so much to drink, they were a little blurry to look at. Suddenly I heard a squeaking noise and I jumped up from the couch. That was a bad idea because I lost my balance and stumbled a bit. So much for not getting quite as hammered tonight.

I followed the squeaking noise and it lead me into the laundry room. There on a counter was a cage with a little rodent running around on its wheel. "Rex!" I said a little too loudly. "What the fuck are you doing here, little buddy?" I was confused as hell. How come Rex was in Belchertown with a stranger instead of home with my Babe? This was bullshit, pure and simple, and I was going to rectify the situation.

I picked up the cage, walked out of the laundry room, and ran smack into Jill or Jackie or whatever her name is. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "Give that to me, you'll drop her!"

"I held the cage up out of her reach and glared at her. "What the fuck are you doing with Rex?" I ground out.

"Rex? Who the hell is Rex? That's my white mouse, Sally. Give me the cage right now!"

I staggered around her and started to make my way to the door. Jill, I mean Jackie, ran to the door to block me from leaving. "I'm calling the police right now if you don't give me that cage, asshole!"

"I may be an asshole, but I don't steal people's hamsters!" I told her.

"Listen, dimwit, she's not a hamster, she's a white mouse, now give me the cage!"

Jackie had a bit of a problem. If she wanted to get her phone and call the police, she was going to have to walk away from the door and that was when I'd make my move.

"I mean it," she threatened. "I'm calling the police in five seconds if you don't give me that cage."

"Why wait?" I slurred out.

I think she choked out a small sob and she ran from the door to get her phone. I opened the door and headed down the driveway toward the road. "Don't worry 'bout a thing, Rex. I'll get you back to Steph."

As I mentioned before, Belchertown is a pretty small town and as it turns out, it also has a very low crime rate. Before I'd make it a quarter mile down the road, a cop car pulled in front of me with its flashers on. Fuck!

Before I knew it, I was being handcuffed and driven to the station where I was booked and fingerprinted. They shoved me into a cell where I collapsed on a cot and promptly fell asleep.

Several hours later, I'm not sure how long, exactly, I heard someone loudly say, "Ranger!" Before I even opened my eyes, I knew the gig was up. I had no ID on me at all that would identify me as Ranger or even as Carlos.

Before I could open my eyes, the man yelled at me again. "Manoso! Get your ass off that cot."

I opened my eyes and turned my head. "Fuck. Toot, what the fuck are you doing here?"

"I'm the captain here, Ranger, but a better question is, what the fuck are you doing here?"

I sat up and scrubbed my hands over my face. Toot was an ex Army man. We served in the Rangers together and even did a Special Ops mission together. That was quite a while ago though. Toot didn't renew his contract and I hadn't spoken to him in quite a while. Had no idea he was a police captain in Belchertown.

"It's a long story," I told him. My head was still a bit fuzzy, though I was pretty much sober by now.

Toot unlocked my cell and had me follow him to his office. He closed the door and motioned for me to sit.

He went around his desk and slid into his chair. "Ranger, what the hell is going on with you? Stealing a woman's pet mouse?"

I frowned. "That was a mouse?"

Toot threw up his hands. "Not that it matters, but, yes. Dog, cat, mouse, what the hell were you thinking trying to steal someone's pet?"

"I was drunk," I told him flatly.

"You don't drink. When did you start drinking?"

I gave him a brief, very brief, explanation of the past few months. Just basically telling him that I had some personal problems and had left Trenton to get away for a while.

"If I cut you loose and make the paperwork disappear, will you head back to Trenton and get your life straightened out?"

I shook my head. "No. I hate that fucking place. There's nothing for me in Trenton. I'll go back eventually, but not yet. I'm leaving the country this afternoon." I'm not sure where that came from, but suddenly, leaving the country seemed like a good idea.

Before he could reply, his phone buzzed. He picked up the receiver, listened to the person on the other end for a moment, then disconnected and excused himself. He said he'd be back in a few minutes and I should sit tight.

X X X

**Tank's POV **

It was five in the morning, but I was already at Rangeman, working out in the gym. Hal buzzed the gym phone and when I picked it up, he told me I had an important call, so I told him to put it through.

I was sure surprised to hear ole Toot on the other end and even more surprised when he told me why he was calling. He said he was working as a police captain up in Massachusetts and that he had Ranger there.

"No shit? Is he okay?"

"Well, it depends on what you mean by okay," Toot said. "He looks like shit. Like he's been on a two year bender and he got arrested last night for stealing a woman's pet mouse."

"Fuck! He what? Why the hell would he do that?"

"Not sure. I've only talked to him for a few minutes, but the police report says he kept calling the mouse Rex and the owner says the thing's name is Sally. Apparently, it was a case of mistaken identity, but he took the thing from her house, was walking down the road with it, drunk, and told the officer who arrested him to go fuck himself."

I was so stunned, I felt like someone had kicked me in the gut and knocked the wind out me. Were we really talking about the same Ranger? Carlos Manoso? Of course we were, he said Ranger was calling the mouse Rex. Man, he must be some kind of fucked up.

"Listen, Toot. I know Ranger's going to want to post his own bail and get out of there, but I'm hoping you'll delay him until I get there. I'll call for a flight right now."

"No can do, Tank. I'm cutting him loose."

I sat up straight in my chair. "You're what? Toot, I've been look for him for two and a half months. Sounds like he's in bad shape and I want to help him." If it sounded like I was begging, it's because I was.

"Tank listen. You know as well as I do that the man saved my life, not once, but _twice_, on the _same_ fucking mission. I can't have him waiting here like a sitting duck and let you just waltz in here, but there is something I can do. He said he's leaving the country this afternoon. I know a guy who can tail him and follow him to the airport. He'll check to see what flight Ranger boards and I'll call you with the info. At least that way, you'll know what city he's heading to. What you do after that is up to you. It's the best I can do, Tank. I know he needs help, but he's his own man, and he's not going to get better until he's ready."

I knew that part was true, but when I find his sorry ass I going to show him the future with my size 15 boot. "Thanks Toot. I appreciate it. I'll be waiting for your call. Oh, let me give you my cell number. I'd rather not have any more calls about this on our main line."

Once I hung up, I didn't know whether to celebrate or put my fist through the wall. So close and yet so far. I knew I could have the control room trace the call, but I also knew I wouldn't do that. I'd wait for Toot to call me back. Ranger would have a head start on me, but at least I'd know where to find him.

It was a long five hours waiting for that call, but finally, it came.

"Hey, Tank. My guy followed Ranger to the airport and he boarded a plane to Caracas."

I paused for a minute thinking I must not have heard him right. "Caracas? As in Venezuela?"

"That would be the place," he said.

"What the fuck is in Caracas?" I asked him.

"Ranger, in about four hours," he said with a chuckle.

I don't know why, but I chuckled too. Maybe it was because I was finally going to get my hands on my best friend and bring him back here. "Thanks, Toot. I owe you one, man."

"Not a chance," Toot replied and disconnected.

**A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you like the chapter and will send me a review. I love hearing from all of you! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Not mine, not making any money. Characters belong to JE.**

**Chapter 15 - Lester's POV**

I walked into the house and it was quiet, so I looked around a bit for Steph. I went in her bedroom because the door was open a little bit, but she wasn't in there. I heard her blow dryer turn on and realized she was in her bathroom.

There were papers spread out all over her desk and what looked like a stack of checks. I knew it was none of my business, but I let my curiosity get the better of me and wandered over to see what she was doing.

She'd made out checks to dozens of organizations and they are were all for anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 each. United Way, Children's Fund, Red Cross, UNICEF, March of Dimes. The list went on and on. There were even checks for smaller places here in New Jersey. YMCA's, women's shelters, homeless shelters, food banks.

Before she could come out of the bathroom, the phone in the kitchen rang, so I went to answer it and took a message for her, then I started dinner. We've been married for four months now and Steph's learned to cook quite a few things so we take turns doing the cooking. Tonight was her night, but I needed something to occupy my mind.

A few minutes later, she wandered into the kitchen and said hello. "Hey, Beautiful. I took a phone message for you while you were in the bathroom. A guy named Tad from Bristol Software wants you to call him back. He didn't say what kind of software you're interested in, but said to tell you he could get you what you want for $5,200.00." I'd been chopping vegetables while I was talking to her, but paused to check and see what her reaction would be to that news.

She just nodded and said, _thanks_, without offering any information. "I'm going to pour a glass of lemonade, would you like one?" she asked on her way to the refrigerator.

I put the knife down and wiped my hands on a dish towel. "Sure, thanks. Steph, I know it's none of my business, but what kind of software do you need that costs over five grand? I'm assuming this isn't a deluxe version of Angry Birds." I had an idea of what it was, but didn't know if she'd confirm it.

She poured two glasses of lemonade, set one in front of me, then leaned against the island countertop across from me. "It's a search program much like what Rangeman has," she told me. I've tried every search engine on the internet. I've purchased every kind of search software I could find at computer stores. Nothing is helping. So, I called Les Sebring and asked if he knew where I could get a good professional search program and he told me to call this guy at Bristol."

"I didn't know you've been running around buying up search software, Steph. You should have said something. You can't just walk into a store and purchase anything close to what Rangeman has. Besides, Rangeman has the best and I ask Rodriguez every other day if he's had any luck and he hasn't."

Steph slid onto one of the stools, crossed her arms on the countertop, and put her head down with her forehead resting on her arms. I went around the counter and bent down and kissed the back of her head. "Talk to me, Beautiful."

After a minute or so, she looked up. "Sometimes I have uncanny luck with searches when other people haven't found anything."

"That is true," I acknowledged.

"I don't really expect to find him. I think if Ranger doesn't want to be found, he's not going to be found, but I have to keep trying."

I nodded my head. "Well, I hope you put Rodriguez's skills to shame and come up with something. I've called every guy I could think of that we severed in the Rangers with over the years and asked them to keep an eye open in their different localities. No one has seen or heard a thing. I walked back to my vegetables and started on dinner again. "There's one other thing," I told her. "This also isn't any of my business, but I saw all the checks you wrote out."

"What were you doing in my room?"

"I was looking for you when I got home and I wandered in there. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked at any of it. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm really sorry."

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it's no big deal. Not like I'm donating to the Grizzoli Family or anything."

"No, just everyone else in the world. Are you giving away all your money, Steph?"

She just shrugged.

I studied her face for a minute. "It's your money, Steph. You can do whatever you want with it. I'd just hate to see you giving it all away out of guilt."

"You want it back?" she asked.

I frowned and put my hands on my hips. "No. I don't want it back. I was just curious about your motivation. You've come a long way in the past few months. You've gained quite a bit of confidence. You never complain about anything. You cook, do your share of the chores, all that stuff, but we've never really talked about your feelings for Ranger. When I try to steer the conversation in that direction, you change the subject. I know you feel guilty, Steph. The thing is, guilt will eat you alive. I think it's wonderful to give to charities, but you can give away every dime and when it's all gone, the guilt will still be there."

"So, you just want me to ignore what I did to him and it'll go away?"

"No, Steph. I don't want you to ignore it. Hopefully, when he comes back, the two of you will be able to fix things and get back together. Have a good long life together."

She smacked her hand on the counter. "He doesn't want a life with me, Lester!" I just want to apologize for hurting him and hope like hell that some day he'll forgive me. He never wanted a life or relationship with me. We were just friends."

"That's bullshit, Steph. Of course he wanted a relationship with you, he just didn't know how to go about it. I actually thought he never would, but now I know different. He loves you. You think he'd disappear for four months if he just thought of you as a friend?"

She got up and dumped the rest of her lemonade in the sink and put the glass in the dishwasher. When she turned around, she said, "Les, we don't know that he disappeared for four months over us getting married. Maybe he decided to go away for a week or two and got called on a mission. That makes more sense than him being that hurt over someone like me."

I frowned. "What does _someone like me mean_, Steph?"

"I'm not his type, Lester. He's brilliant and sophisticated and gorgeous and everything I'm not. He could have any woman in the world. There's no way I would fit into his life and he and I both knew it. I was a pathetic loser and he got some kind of satisfaction from helping me out. He was always donating money to charity and I was just another charity case."

"Fuck, Stephanie! I really thought you were making a lot of progress working on your self confidence and here you are, putting yourself down. What the fuck?"

She clamped her hands on the sides of her head in frustration. "Lester, I am getting better with my self-confidence, but I'm also trying to work on being honest with myself. Do you think there was any chance that two or three months ago I'd be talking to you like this? No. I am more confident. I do feel like a stronger person. I want to help people and give back instead of being the one who always needs help. I want to go back to school and get my teaching certificate. I want to work with young girls so they don't grow up feeling the way I did. But, that has nothing to do with what I was like the whole time Ranger knew me and even before that. Les, I couldn't even hold on to Dickie Orr without him cheating on me and Ranger is a million times better than Dickie in every way. I think Ranger cared for me, a lot, as a friend, but there's no way he was in love with me. Not a romantic, happily ever after kind of love."

I was quiet for a few minutes thinking over everything she said. "Are you in love with him, Beautiful?"

She hung her head and gave a small nod. "Yeah. Hopelessly, completely, irrevocably. Maybe if I'd worked on myself before this, he actually would have fallen in love with me," she said sadly.

I walked over and put my arms around her. "Hopefully, he'll be back someday soon and you two can start over." Before I could say anything else, my cell phone rang. I picked it up off the counter and looked at the Caller ID. "It's Tank. I sure hope he doesn't have a nasty take down for me tonight."

I flipped open the phone and said, "Hey, what's up?

Tank cleared his throat on the other end. "I just wanted to let you know I found Ranger."

"What! That's fantastic. Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's been better," Tank said, his voice gruff. "I can't tell you where he is. His orders. Not just you. I'm not telling anyone right now until he says so."

Fuck. Guess I deserved that. "Is he in the country?"

Tank hesitated. "No. I actually got a lead on him about a month ago. Someone saw him board a plane and called to let me know where he was headed. But, you know Ranger, he's always thinking three steps ahead. It took me a week to figure out he'd immediately hopped another plane to somewhere else. Then it took me another week to figure out he hopped yet another plane to a third place. After that, it took me two weeks to track him down."

"Fuck. He really didn't want to be found, did he? Is he coming back to Trenton soon?"

"Nope. Says he doesn't know when he'll be back. He has no interest in coming back right now and that he'll come back when he's ready."

I blew out a breath. "Shit. Listen, Tank. I know he probably hates my guts, but if there's anything I can do to help, call me."

"Thanks, Les. I don't think he's hating your guts. I think he's hating his own guts and he's promised to work on getting over that. Gotta go man," he said and disconnected.

"Tell me everything!" Step said as soon as I closed my phone.

I related everything that Tank said and we were both quiet for a while, lost in our own thoughts.

Finally, I said, "Listen, I don't really feel like dinner any more, but I'll make you something, if you tell me what you want."

She shook her head. "No thank you. I'm not really hungry right now."

I ended up going to bed early and when I said goodnight to Steph, she was sitting out on the patio staring at the stars. "You need anything before I hit the sack, Beautiful?"

She shook her head without looking at me. "No thanks, Les. I'll see you in the morning." She blew me a kiss and air tossed it over her shoulder and I blew one back.

Several hours later, I started to come out of a restless sleep. I was having a nightmare about an old mission that had gone to shit. It was a strange dream that I've had many times. It's like I know I'm dreaming, but I can't wake myself up. I felt a familiar panic come over me because I knew a really bad part was coming up. Suddenly, I realized I wasn't alone any more. An arm came around me and someone was shushing me and softly telling me everything would be okay.

I started to come out of the dream, but still felt someone against my back. I jerked fully awake. "Steph?"

"Yeah, Les, it's me. Just relax, it's okay. It was just a bad dream. It'll be okay."

I took a few deep breaths and worked on calming my mind and my heart rate. Steph was gently rubbing my neck and back and it felt nice.

Finally, I said, "What are you doing in here?"

"I walked past your room on my way to mine and I thought it sounded like you were having a nightmare, so I came in to check on you. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. So you didn't come in here to ..."

"No, Les!"

"Hunh."

"Hunh, what?" she asked.

"Nothing." We were quiet, but it was almost like I could sense the gears turning in her head.

After a while, she said, "Les, hasn't a woman ever held you just to comfort you or take care of you?"

I thought about that for a moment. "Not that I can think of, but if feels nice."

"Someone will some day, if you let her. Maybe Diane, maybe someone else."

"Maybe," I whispered. "Will you stay with me for a little while?"

"Sure, I'll stay until you go back to sleep."

"Thanks. I love you, Steph."

She planted a kiss on my back. "Love you too, Les."

**A/N If you're still following along, thanks for reading and thanks to all of you that leave feedback and send me well thought out critiques. I love hearing from you! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Characters belong to Janet E. I'm not making any money.**

**Chapter 16 Stephanie's POV**

Lester and I have been married for eight months now. The purchase of the go kart place hasn't been finalized yet because it didn't pass inspection. There were things that needed to be updated before it could be sold, including some additional handicap features that needed to be put into place. The owner seemed to be dragging his feet, so after a while, Les started helping in order to move things along. By the time they get finished, the season will be over, so Les won't likely be taking over until next spring.

He's been working quite a few hours at Rangeman. For the most part, everything has been okay for him there. Hal and Hector pretty much ignore him and Tank tries not to pair him with either of them for surveillance or picking up skips. He also says that things have not been quite the same between him and Bobby.

Bobby still comes over sometimes, along with Cal, but it seems like he spends a lot of time watching the interaction between Lester and me. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that he was with Lester at Home Depot when Les asked Diane for her phone number just a week or so before we got married. He either knows something is up with the marriage or he's trying to determine if Lester is cheating on me. Little does he know that Lester has taken to pacing the floor at night, practicing yoga and meditation and checking out Fleshlights on the internet. He's yet to order one, but I'm thinking it could be any time now.

At the moment, Lester is avoiding me. He gave me a hug the other night and the next thing I knew, he was kissing the side of my neck and I jumped away from him like he was on fire. He apologized and I accepted his apology, but things have been a little awkward since. I'm sure it'll pass. I'm not mad at him, I was just a little startled. I'm determined not to sleep with him no matter how horny either of us get. I've made more than enough mistakes, I'm not going to add starting a sexual relationship with someone I'm not in love with. The last thing I need is another check mark in the regret column of life.

Tank still won't say where Ranger is. He also won't say how he's doing or when he might be back. Two weeks ago, on a Monday, Lester found out that Tank has been going out of town over the weekend sometimes and we figure he probably goes to see Ranger. We keep hoping for some kind of news or update, but he won't give us one. Not that we deserve one, we just keep hoping.

I've been working part time as a file clerk at an insurance office and taking classes online. Once every two weeks we have dinner at my parents house and inevitably we have to reiterate to my mother that there will be no grandchildren. She still remains hopeful.

Albert is doing well. It's been a rough eight months for him, but they got all the cancer and he's been looking a lot better the past several weeks. He's lost quite a bit of weight and no longer has that roly poly look. The color is returning to his face and he's actually been laughing and joking with Val and the girls and talking about going back to work.

Lula won a couple thousand dollars in the lottery and decided to go to cosmetology school and pay for part of it with her winnings. I wanted to pay for it, so she wouldn't be broke again, but knew she'd question where I got the money, so I put three thousand dollars in a priority mail envelope with a fake PO Box number as the return address and sent it to her. Thankfully she received it with no problem. I had to laugh when I stopped by the bonds office to visit with her and Connie three weeks later, and she was still trying to figure out who her secret admirer was.

My cell phone rang and I looked at the Caller ID. It's was Les. "Hi there," I greeted him.

"Hey, Beautiful. You speaking to me?"

I let out an audible sigh. "Les, I was never not speaking to you. You've been avoiding me, not the other way around."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. "Listen, I wanted to know if you'd like to go out to eat tonight?"

I hesitated. "This isn't a date, is it?" We hardly ever go out for dinner though we do order carry out once in a while.

"No, not a date. I'm on a break from Rangeman, but have to go back later to pick up a skip with Bobby. I just thought that instead of driving home and then back, I'd grab something at Pino's. Since it's your favorite place, I thought I'd see if you'd like to join me."

"Oh, well in that case, yes. I can be there in about 20 minutes."

"Sweet. I'll save you a seat," he said with a laugh. "You want pizza or a meatball sub? I can order and it'll be ready when you get here."

"How about a pizza for dinner and a sub I can bring home with me."

"Sounds good. See you in a few."

When I got to Pino's, Lester was in a booth in the back and Joe was sitting with him. I haven't seen Joe in months. He left for an undercover assignment a day or two before Lester and I got married. It was weird, but a few months ago, I would have been a nervous wreck running into him, but tonight I was calm and together. There's a lot to be said for gaining some self-confidence.

"Hey, Joe," I greeted him when I got to the booth. I leaned down and gave Les a quick peck on the cheek.

"Cupcake," Joe said by way of greeting. His face showed a mixture of concern and dismay. "May I speak with you outside for a moment?"

Before I could answer, Lester spoke up. "Is that really necessary? What do you have to say to Steph that you can't say in front of me?"

"It's okay, Les. I'm sure it'll only take a minute and I'll be right back," I assured him.

Les exchanged a look of contempt with Joe. "Fine, but if you give her a hard time, Morelli, you're going to have to answer to me."

"I'm not going to give her a hard time," Joe ground out. "Cool your jets, Santos. I just want to talk to her for a minute."

Joe and I walked out to the parking lot and over near his car. There were a lot of people coming in and out of the restaurant and apparently he didn't want to be overheard by anyone. "How you doing, Joe? I didn't know you were back."

"How am _I _doing?" Joe asked incredulously. "I'm fine. I'm still single. What the fuck is going on with _you_?"

"Geeze, Joe. We weren't together for four months before you went on assignment. You were dating someone else before you left. It's not like I cheated on you."

Joe shoved his hands in his pockets and glared at me. "Steph, I'm not saying you were cheating on me. We broke up because you were in love with Ranger. I come back and you're married to Lester? How is that possible?" He looked at my stomach. "You're obviously not pregnant."

I was so tempted to roll my eyes, but I'm trying to act more mature these days. "No Joe, I'm not pregnant. And, I know you thought that I was sleeping with Ranger, but I wasn't. I told you I wasn't during that last fight we had. You just didn't believe me."

Joe looked down at the ground and kicked at a few pebbles on the asphalt parking lot. "Steph. whether you were sleeping with him or not, you were in love with him and he with you. Everyone knows it. I knew it for a long time before our last break-up, I just didn't want to accept it."

I glanced toward the plate glass window of the restaurant and knew I should wrap this conversation up before Lester came out to check on us. "I highly doubt Ranger was in love with me, Joe. I was a mess and all he did was bail me out of one stupid situation after another. He was probably just trying to save me from myself."

Joe frowned at me. "Really? Is that what you've been telling yourself, Cupcake? Where is Ranger, by the way?"

I turned a bit so I could lean back against his truck and crossed my arms over my chest. "I don't know," I said softly. "He left town a few months ago and I haven't heard from him."

"A _few_ months ago?" Joe repeated. "You mean he left town _eight_ months ago, when you married Lester, and hasn't been seen or heard from since."

"Tank has seen him and talked to him," I said a little more defensively than I meant to.

"Christ, Steph. You've pulled some doozies over the years, but this one tops them all."

"It's not your concern, Joe."

He studied my face for a minute then said, "I guess that's true. Never thought I'd see the day I felt sorry for Manoso. Poor dumb bastard."

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and walked around to the driver's side of his truck. "See you around, Cupcake."

"Yeah, see you around, Joe." I pushed myself away from his truck and went back inside, sliding into the booth across from Lester.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Sure."

"Then why does it feel like it's not?" he wanted to know.

I shrugged. Why do you think it's not?" I asked.

"One, the look on your face. Two, you didn't dive right into the pizza. Three ..."

"Alright!" I interrupted him. "Let's not discuss it with thirty pairs of ears listening, okay?" I was three seconds from crying and I'll be damned if I was going to cry in front of everyone at Pino's of all places.

We were both quiet for a while. Lester ate a couple slices of pizza, but I knew I wouldn't be able to swallow past the lump in my throat, so I didn't even bother trying.

Lester didn't comment on my lack of appetite, he just had them bag up my sub and the rest of the pizza and paid the bill. He walked me to my car, opened the door for me and then went around to the passenger side and put the bag of food on the seat. Before he closed the door, he said, "We need to talk. It might be late when I get home, but I'll have time tomorrow. You working tomorrow?"

"No, not unless they call me in. Tomorrow is Wednesday, right?"

Lester frowned. "Yeah, tomorrow is Wednesday. It almost always follows Tuesday."

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes for the second time tonight and turned the key in the ignition. "Be careful tonight," I told him.

He pulled his head from the car and put his hand on the top of the door frame. "I will. You be careful driving home. I'm already worried about you and it looks like it's going to rain."

"I'm fine," I lied.

"Yeah, right. Just be careful and keep your mind on your driving, okay?"

I could tell he was truly worried so I didn't want to give him a hard time. "I'll be extra careful," I assured him.

Sure enough, I wasn't on the road five minutes when the rain started. Another five minutes after that and I could hardly see out the windshield. I forced myself not to think about Ranger or what Joe had said so that I could keep my mind on the road. As it turned out, it didn't help. My reflexes automatically kicked in when a dog ran out in front of me and I hit the brakes causing my car to spin out on the wet pavement. I tried to get the steering back under control, but it all happened so fast. I knew a fraction of a second before I hit a large oak tree that there was no way to avoid it. I only had time to think, _please let me be able to see Ranger one more time before I die_, when everything went black.

**XXX **

**Tank's POV**

I was working late at Rangeman, catching up on some paperwork. I had two teams out picking up skips tonight and didn't want to leave before they both returned safely. They were moderately high bond skips, but nothing that I didn't think either team could handle, otherwise I'd be out with one of them.

I had a contract worker named Gibby on the phones tonight and he buzzed my phone about 7:30 pm saying that the caller said it was an emergency. I told him to put the call through. I was surprised to hear Joe Morelli's voice on the line.

"What's up, Joe?"

"Tank, do you know how to get a hold of Lester? I was at St. Francis when they brought Stephanie in. They've been calling her house and the number I found on her phone for Lester, but he's not answering."

"Is she okay?" I asked him.

"She's was in a car accident and hit a tree. She's unconscious, Tank. Someone needs to get in touch with Lester."

"Shit! He's on a takedown and probably has his personal cell phone shut off. I can contact him, but he's thirty minutes away. I'll be there in ten minutes, Joe," I told him and snapped my phone shut.

I went to the control room where Hector was working the comm lines for both take-downs. "Hector, who on Lester's team is wearing a mic and ear piece tonight?"

"Bobby and Lester are both miked up tonight. You need one of them?"

"Yeah, patch me through to Lester A.S.A.P."

Hector handed me a headset and started working on patching me through.

When the line opened, I could hear him chatting quietly with Bobby. "Les, this is Tank. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, boss. Loud and clear. What's up?"

"Cancel the take down. Steph's been in an accident and she's at St. Francis."

"Fuck! Fuck! Is she okay? What happened? Is she okay?"

"Les, all I know right now is that she's unconscious. Morelli was in the ER when they brought her in and he called me. They've been trying to get a hold of you."

"We'll be right there," he said.

I could hear the engine turn over on the SUV they were in. "I'll see you there," I told him.

"Tank. You'll get there before me. If they let you see her, tell her I'm on my way so she knows, okay?"

"Will do, Lester. Gotta go." I grabbed Steph's Power of Attorney papers from her file and took off for the garage. After she and Les got married, he had added her to his insurance and she had updated her POA at the same time. Since Ranger had left town, my name was inserted in his place. I could give permission to treat her in the event she couldn't give her own consent and/or Lester wasn't available or able.

I sped through town to the hospital and went straight to the ER desk, turning over the paperwork. "How's she doing?" I asked the nurse.

"She's still unconscious. You'll have to speak with the doctor for any other details."

"Right." I looked around and saw Joe standing outside one of the white curtains that partitioned off the exam rooms. The nurse gave me a consent form and I signed it. "Her husband is on his way," I told her before heading down the hallway to speak to Morelli.

When I was just a few feet from him, he nodded toward the curtain. "I was with her for a while, but the doctor is in there now and made me step out," he told me.

I nodded that I understood. "Has she come around at all?"

Joe shook his head. "Not that I know of. Not while I was with her. You get a hold of Lester?"

"Yeah, he's on his way. Man, that woman has the worst luck. She's not even working as a BEA any more and still ends up in the frikkin' hospital. Do you know what happened?"

"Yeah, I talked to the officer that responded to the scene. Said she lost control of her car in the rain and hit a tree. Her air bag only partially deployed and apparently she smacked the back of her head pretty hard on the headrest."

"Shit."

The doctor came out then. Her name tag said, Dr. Judy Benson. "Are either of you related to Mrs. Santos?"

"No, I told her, but I have her POA. I gave it to the nurse at the desk a few minutes ago. How's Stephanie?"

"She's still unconscious, but she doesn't have any other major injuries. No internal injuries, no broken bones. Her left shoulder is going to be extremely sore for awhile. It looks like she got slammed against the car door pretty hard when the car spun out. I'll be back to check on her in a few minutes. Right now, I don't see a need to move her to ICU, but if she doesn't come around shortly, I'll reevaluate that decision. In the meantime, someone will be coming to get her to take her for a CT scan." With that, she walked away.

Joe and I took the opportunity to go inside the examination room. The doctor hadn't said it was okay, but she hadn't told us to stay out either.

Joe and I shot the breeze quietly while keeping watch over her and we were both startled when she started mumbling and then calling for Ranger.

Joe shot me a look and I shrugged my shoulders. What the fuck was I supposed to say? He knew as well as I did that Steph and Ranger had deep feelings for each other. Every fucking person in Trenton seemed to know it except Stephanie.

"What the fuck is that about?" Joe asked.

"Don't ask me," I told him.

Joe shook his head. "Well, it'll be more than a little interesting if she's still doing that when her _husband _shows up."

I had to smirk at the way he said _husband_ because that was exactly the way I said it in my mind when I thought of Lester being Bomber's husband. Even after all these months is was hard to imagine.

I told Joe I was going to go check to see if Lester was there yet and walked back down the hallway to the ER desk. Les was just getting to the desk when I got there. "Tank, how is she, man? Is she okay? Can I see her?"

The nurse at the desk spoke to him before I could answer. "Are you Mr. Santos?"

"Yes, is Stephanie okay? Can I see her?"

"She's still unconscious and I need to ask you some questions about her medical history."

"Well, I need to see her so can you ask me the questions in her room?"

"It'll just take a couple of minutes," the nurse told him. "We have her past medical history in her file. I just need to know a little recent information. Is she taking any medications?"

"No," Lester said.

"Has she had any health issues in the past year?"

Lester shook his head. "No, she's been fine. Healthy."

"Okay," the nurse said. "Is there any chance she could be pregnant?"

"Uh, I don't, uh no. Probably not. I don't think so. No."

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Lester, but he didn't notice because he was looking at the nurse. What the fuck?

Finally, they were finished with the questions and answers and he and I headed down the hall to Steph's room. "Where's Bobby?" I asked him.

"He dropped me off at the door and is parking the truck."

When we walked in, Joe said he needed to be going and told me to give him a call if there was any change. He and Lester barely glanced at each other.

Steph was still out of it and was no longer mumbling. Les bent down and kissed her forehead and said something to her, but his voice was too low for me to hear what he said.

I told him that the doctor said she didn't have any broken bones or internal injuries and I could see the relief on his face.

When the doctor came back, she said she was going to move Stephanie to an observation room after the CT scan. It was a step down from ICU, but a step up from the ER exam room. She told us it would be a while by the time they finished the test and got her settled and that we should go have a cup of coffee and we could see her when they got her in the room.

We walked back to the waiting room and I asked Lester if he wanted a cup of coffee.

"No thanks, man. I've been drinking coffee all evening. Listen, Tank. Thanks for getting a hold of me and for being here."

"No problem, Lester. But we need to talk."

Lester blew out a sigh. "Okay, what about?"

"Not here," I told him. I looked out through the glass doors of the ER and it looked like the rain had stopped. "Let's step outside," I told him, heading for the door.

When we walked outside and were a few feet from the door, I stopped and turned to him. "I want to know a couple things, Lester," I said. I made it clear by the tone of my voice that it wasn't a request for information, it was a demand.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Number one, how is it you don't know if there's a possibility your _wife _is pregnant and number two, why was your unconscious _wife _asking for Ranger in the fucking ER room?"

**A/N Well, things are heating up a bit now, aren't they? Will Lester answer Tank's questions? We'll see. Thanks for reading along and for all the great reviews and PMs. It's almost 5 am. I'm exhausted and only proofread this chapter once, so I hope there aren't too many errors or typos. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Characters belong to JE. I'm not making any money off them**

_"I want to know a couple things, Lester," I said. I made it clear by the tone of my voice that it wasn't a request for information, it was a demand._

_"What's that?" he asked._

_"Number one, how is it you don't know if there's a possibility your wife is pregnant and number two, why was your unconscious wife asking for Ranger in the fucking ER room?"_

**Chapter 17 - Tank's POV... cont'd**

I saw his shoulders slump and then he hung his head. "Tank," he said so quietly I could hardly hear him. "I can't do this any more, man."

I frowned. He looked so dejected I was almost starting to feel sorry for him. Almost. "Can't do what any more, Santos?"

He raised his head and looked out over the parking lot. "Bobby's on his way over here. I can't talk to you about this here or anywhere we might be overheard. Also, I need to wait until Steph is okay so I can talk something over with her. She may want to be with me when you and I talk."

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Bobby was only a few yards away. "Christ, Lester. I can't imagine what this is all about and I don't even know if I want to know."

"I'm sure you don't, Tank, but I really need to talk to you, just not right now."

"Got it. Let me know when you're ready."

Lester nodded and said, "I'm going back inside to wait for word on Steph." He turned and walked away just as Bobby reached me.

"How's Steph?" Bobby asked.

"She's unconscious, but no broken bones or internal organ damage or bleeding."

"That's good, but the last thing that woman needed was another concussion. I think she's had more than most NFL players."

My mind was preoccupied with trying to figure out what was going on with Lester and I missed the last thing Bobby said. "I'm sorry, what?"

Bobby reached up and clapped me on the shoulder. "Never mind, big guy. I'm going to go see if I can find Lester."

I ran my hand over the top of my head and blew out a sigh. "Yeah. I'm going to get back to the office now that you're here. Call me if there's any change."

"Will do," Bobby said.

When I got back to the office, I stopped at the control room and told Gibby to watch the monitors for a while so I could speak to Hector my office.

I closed the door, and once Hector was seated across from me, I folded my hands on the desk and gave him my most serious look.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Stephanie is unconscious at the hospital. Had an accident tonight when it was raining and hit a tree."

"Oh shit! I'm still pretty mad at Steph and Lester, but I wouldn't want anything to happen to either of them. Is she going to be okay?"

"I believe so. They were running a CT scan when I left. Bobby will call with any updates."

Hector nodded. "Okay, thanks for letting me know," he said, rising from his chair.

"Wait. That's not why I called you in here."

He looked surprised and lowered himself back into the chair. "Okay, bro, what can I do for you?"

"Hector, what I'm about to tell you is to be considered top secret. Normally, I never like to threaten anyone's job, but this is serious and since you're the only one I'm going to tell this to, if word gets around, I'll know where it came from."

"Wow, Tank, it must be big, but you can count on me."

He crossed his left leg over his right and was waiting for me to continue so I jumped right in. "I found Ranger a few months ago." I noted the surprise on Hector's face. Aparently, I'd done a decent job of keeping the information and the destination of my weekend trips out of town under the radar.

"Is he okay?" Hector asked.

"He will be. Actually, he's a lot better than he was when I found him. Anyway, he's out of the country and he needs a favor from you."

"From me? Sure, I owe Ranger my life, man. I'd do anything for him - just tell me what it is."

I explained to him what Ranger wanted done and we discussed the details for another half hour. This weekend, I'll have a core team member come in from Boston and one from Miami to cover the office while Hector and I are out of town. Lester would most likely be tied up with Steph all weekend, even if they release her from the hospital. I didn't want him to worry about coming in to work when it's likely he'd be too distracted to be aware of his surroundings.

When we were done talking, Hector made his way back to the control room and I headed to the fourth floor to get some sleep. Since we've been shorthanded a lot lately, I've been staying in my apartment on site some nights, rather than going home. Lula's been less than thrilled. I showered and ate some leftover pizza, then crawled into bed. As I was drifting off to sleep, I wondered if Rangeman Trenton would ever be the same again. I missed the way things used to be, with Ranger right down the hall from me in his office. Everyone getting along with Lester. Steph and her built-in whirlwind that kept everyone alternately on their toes to keep her out of danger and amused by her antics. At one time, she could light up the place with her smile, just by stopping by for a few minutes. Gone. It was all gone and it was fucking depressing.

I had no idea when Ranger would be ready to come back, but I wouldn't push him. I was shocked at the condition I'd found him in. I knew he had been in love with Stephanie, but I had no idea she had the power to almost destroy him. He was the biggest bad ass I knew. I guess it's like the old saying, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, because he fell like a ton of bricks. I alternated between being furious with her for having that kind of power over him and furious with him for not letting her into his life when that was so clearly where he wanted and needed her to be. Finally, I drifted off into a restless sleep.

**Stephanie's POV **

I spent two days in the hospital and now I've been home for two days. Except for some bruises, achy muscles and an occasional headache, I'm doing well. I've certainly been worse.

Lester was fussing over me like a mother hen and on my second day home, I was beginning to suspect that he was stressed out over something besides my accident. Tank called and asked him to help with a take-down tonight, and later, he came and softly knocked on my door to talk to me about it.

"Hey, Beautiful," he said as he perched on the edge of my bed. "How you feeling?" He picked up my hand and ran his thumb back and forth across my knuckles.

"I'm feeling much better than I was yesterday and the day before, thank you," I told him. "Please stop worrying about me, I'll be fine."

He'd been looking at my face while I was talking, but then looked away. "Steph, I need to talk to you about a couple of things. One, Tank wants me to help with a skip tonight and I don't want to leave you alone. How about if I call Lula and see if she can hang out with you while I'm gone?"

"Less, is something else wrong? You're speaking to me, but gazing out the window. What's the matter?"

He brought his eyes back to mine. "Beautiful, when you were in the hospital and you were still unconscious, you were calling out for Ranger in front of Tank. Also, when I was answering questions about your medical history, I kind of stumbled over the answer to whether or not you could possibly be pregnant and Tank heard that too. He knows something is wrong and was demanding answers from me. I told him I'd talk to him later."

I was quiet for a couple minutes. I can't believe I was calling out for Ranger in front of Tank. Holy cow! I shouldn't really surprised though. My last thoughts before I hit the tree were of Ranger. "Lester, why did you stumble over the pregnancy question? You know we haven't slept together."

Lester looked embarrassed. "Yeah, of course I knew we hadn't, but didn't know if you'd been with someone else."

"What! Who would I have been with and why would you think that?"

He let go of my hand and ran his fingers through his spiky hair. "I didn't think you had, so at first I started to tell the nurse _no_. Then it occurred to me that I don't really know what you do after work or when I'm not around ..."

I started to interrupt him, but he held up his hand. "Let me finish. First, I honestly didn't think you'd been with anyone, but just the fact that it was possible, made me hesitate. I know it's been murder on me going without sex all this time and I figured you probably get tempted too and I wouldn't blame you if you'd gotten together with someone a few times. I thought it would be terrible if there was some slim chance you were pregnant and I didn't say anything. Truthfully, I didn't know what to say, so I told her probably not, but that I wasn't sure. Tank was standing right next to me and I think it blew his mind."

Yikes. I ran my fingers through my hair and gathered it at the back of my head, wishing I had a ponytail elastic within reach. "Lester, I'm really sorry that happened, but neither of those things are Tank's business."

"I know, but I think I'm going to tell him what's going on with us, if you'll agree. Unless he blows up or freaks out on me or talks in his sleep, I think he'll keep it to himself. I'm going to ask him to pass the information along to Ranger the next time he talks to him."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do after keeping it quiet all this time?"

"Yeah. I can't take it any more. My stomach is constantly in a knot thinking about Ranger being gone because of what we did. We should have told him right from the beginning. I was just afraid he'd try to stop us. Not so he could be with you. I didn't really believe he'd ever get around to bringing you into his life. I just thought he would hate the idea of you being with me and I was also afraid he'd tell Tank." He gave a derisive laugh. "And now, after all this time, I'm going to tell Tank myself. Go figure."

"Okay. I don't have any objections. It'll actually be a relief to have someone know the truth. Unless one of them decide to spill the beans out of anger, I think it'll be okay, and I don't think Ranger would ever do anything to intentionally hurt me in spite of what I've done. On the off chance Tank blows up and tells someone, we need to be prepared to pay back the money. I don't really care as long as we can figure out how to pay it back."

Lester shrugged. Maybe it won't come to that, but if it does, we've probably already earned a lot of interest on it, so that could go towards paying it back. We haven't even spent a tiny fraction of it, so I think we could figure it out. We may actually have more than we started with by now."

"True. So, when are you going to tell him?"

"I thought I'd leave early for the take-down tonight and talk to him in his office unless you want me to wait until you're feeling better so you can be with me."

"Nah. Now that we've decided to do this, I don't think we should put it off a moment longer." I felt my eyes sting with tears. If Ranger hates me, I might as well find out sooner rather than later. With every day that went by, it was getting harder and harder not knowing if he was okay and not knowing where he was or what he was thinking.

Lester squeezed my knee through the blanket. "Okay, then. Tonight it is."

I gave him an encouraging smile. "I feel better already. It's been a long eight months."

"You got that right. Dinner is ready. You want to come eat with me before I leave? I made chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy and corn. A little protein and your favorite starches," he said with a wink.

We ate dinner together and I declined having Lula come over to sit with me. I was feeling much better, both physically and emotionally, now that I knew Lester was going to talk to Tank.

**Tank's POV **

Lester called and asked if I had some time to meet with him before tonight's take-down. I was both curious about what he wanted to tell me and dreading it at the same time. I had a hinky feeling that I wasn't going to like what he had to say, but if there was any chance it was going to explain the crazy past eight months or help clear the air around here, I figured I needed to listen.

I was at my desk when he knocked and barked out for him to enter. He took the chair in front of my desk and I noticed he looked nervous and distracted. "How's Steph?" I asked him.

"Much better, thanks. When I was leaving tonight, she said she was going to watch Ghostbusters and then go to bed early."

I had to laugh. She's watched that damn movie about a hundred times and still never tires of it. "So, what can I do for you Lester?"

He cleared his throat and though I couldn't see his feet, I could tell by the up and down motion of his right knee that he was tapping his foot nervously.

After a couple false starts, he cleared his throat again and said, "I need you to get some information to Ranger."

For the next several minutes, he told me the whole crazy story about his aunt and the will, Albert's cancer and the reason for the marriage and silence. I was pretty stunned. I knew something was just not right about the whole thing, but I didn't suspect this. When he finished speaking, we sat staring at each other for a few minutes. The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got.

I was sure I would do some wild and crazy things for forty million dollars, but marrying my best friend's woman without talking to him first, would not be one of them. "Christ, Lester, why didn't you just explain the situation to Ranger right up front?"

He hesitated, then said, "Steph wanted to tell him, but I was nervous about it."

I frowned. "You know Ranger can keep a secret, Santos."

"I know he has kept secrets, but I know he also confides in you a lot. I know he tells you a lot of things and I was afraid if he was upset enough, he'd tell you. Then, I was afraid you'd talk in your sleep or somehow Lula would figure out you knew something and try to get it out of you. It was probably one of the most stupid decisions I've ever made, but I'm afraid I was only thinking of myself and the fact that forty million dollars was on the line. I'm sorry and I feel like shit. I can't change the past eight months or take it back, but I'm hoping you'll let Ranger know that the marriage is a sham and Steph will be free again soon."

I rubbed my eyes and ran my hands over my head. Fuck! Lester was not going to like the answer I was inclined to give him, but I needed a few minutes to think it over. I ran the different scenarios through my mind calculating what would happen if I told Ranger and what would happen if I didn't. Ranger had already told me he didn't want any discussion about either of them when we talk on the phone or on the weekends I fly down to see him. Told me not to even mention their names.

Finally, I made my decision. "No can do, Santos."

He looked shocked. "Wait. What? You don't think it would be a good thing to tell him?"

"I can't. Number one, he's already told me that unless either you or Steph were dead or dying, he didn't want to even hear your names spoken until he says otherwise. Two, he's making some changes in his life and I don't think he needs a wrench thrown into his ..." I started to say _recovery_, but that would be giving away too much. "He doesn't need a wrench thrown into his plans. He has enough on his mind right now. He's on a steady course and I'm not going to throw him off it. He doesn't need the pressure right now."

"But don't you think knowing that Steph doesn't care for me in that way and that she cares about him and misses him and will be free soon would be good news to him?"

"Fuck, Lester! I'm not a fucking psychic. I don't know how he'd react. One one hand, yes, I think it would be good for him to know. On the other hand, I don't want to see him do something ... I just ... the answer is no. There are only fifteen weeks until your year is up. Your secret is safe with me. The day you file for divorce, I'll let Stephanie know where he is. If she really cares about him, she can go to him and explain the whole thing herself. I think she owes it to him. Better late than never, I guess."

"Fair enough," Lester said after a minute or so of thinking over what I said. "I'll trust that you know what's best for him. I wish I'd been as good a friend to him as you've been."

He left my office to go prepare for his take-down and I picked up the stapler from my desk and hurled it against the wall. "Fuck me," I muttered to the empty room. Ranger was doing well, but I knew that in another fifteen weeks, he'd be in even better shape, if he stayed on track. I didn't think the disaster named Stephanie would be the best thing for him right now and since he'd told me he didn't want to even discuss her right now, I felt I'd made the right decision. Hopefully. Fuck!

**A/N - Well, it's almost 5 am again, and I've been up all night, so here's another chapter that's only been proofread once. I hate proofreading, but sincerely hope it's okay. Again, I'm behind on answering your feedback, but I've read each and every one of them and want to thank all of you for following along. We're getting close to the end. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Chapter 18 Stephanie's POV**

Lester and I have been married for eleven months, three and a half weeks. Soon we'll be filing for divorce and this odd, non-marriage, will be a thing of the past.

I don't know what will happen after that, but I do know that Tank told Lester that he'll let me know how to find Ranger. I'm both excited and scared. I'll be relieved to finally be able to tell him the truth and apologize to him, but that will only happen if he's willing to see me and speak with me.

Lester told me there was no hurry, but I've already been packing my things to move out. Whatever happens with me happens, but I want to be out of his way in case he is able to start a relationship with Diane. Even if she won't see him, I'm pretty sure there will be a steady stream of women in his life for the next several months, although he's been talking about women less and less as the months have gone by.

I'm trying to keep my chin up and be hopeful about Ranger. With Lester's help, I'm sort of like a different person. Part of me knows that if Ranger rejects me, I'll eventually be able to accept it and move on, but I hope and pray it doesn't come to that. I miss his friendship and support and warmth. I even miss the amusement in his eyes that I used to scowl at when he'd brush noodles off my shoulder or pick pepperoni out of my hair after one of my mishaps while chasing a skip.

Wednesday, Les and I will have been married one year. On Thursday, we'll file for divorce and on Friday, we'll be getting together with some of, hopefully most of, our friends. We sent out invitations to invite them all to a get together. Tank said we could use the 3rd floor conference room at Rangeman. It's not used very often and is large enough to hold everyone with room to spare.

We are having it catered and plan to explain to everyone all at once the details of the marriage. I don't know what to expect, but I'm sure there will be some anger, some confusion and some "ah ha" moments. I've learned that I can't control how others feel or what they do, I can only ask for their forgiveness and hope for the best.

I was standing at the sliding glass door, looking out at the stars, and thinking that I was actually going to miss living here and miss Lester. In spite of the fact that we both screwed things up, he's been a wonderful and supportive friend. Though there have been a few close calls when it came to sex, he'd kept his promise not to ask me or put any pressure on me. There were a few times when we'd be sitting close to each other watching a movie or something and he'd kiss me and instead of breaking it off right away, it would start to deepen. Invariably, one of us would come to our senses before it went any further than kissing and we'd move away from each other on the couch.

I heard the front door open and smiled at Lester as he came into the kitchen and dropped his keys into the designated key bowl on the counter. "Hey, Les, get your skip okay?"

"Yeah, Beautiful. Smooth as silk. Everything went by the book. How you doin' tonight?"

"I'm okay. I was just thinking about how much I'm going to miss you and miss living here."

He crossed the room and leaned down to drop a kiss on my forehead. "I've been thinking about that too, Steph. You know you're welcome here any time. And I'm sure we'll get together for lunch or dinner here and there. I'll make it a point to invite some of the guys over for poker once in a while and invite you too so we don't all lose touch."

"That would be great, Les."

He walked over and opened the refrigerator. "Oh, you made spaghetti and meatballs. Yum! You've turned into quite a good cook this past year."

I joined him by the refrigerator and told him to have a seat at the table. "I can't believe the number of things I can cook now, thanks to you and your infinite patience. Thank you. You've been working all night, so just relax and I'll heat up dinner for you."

"No phone messages tonight?" he asked as he settled himself at the table.

"Just the caterer," I told him. "Everything is all set for Friday night."

"That's good. You think we should tell everyone about the divorce before or after they eat?"

"Probably before. Eating afterwards will give everyone something to do and a chance to process what we said and discuss it, if they want to. And I'm sure the beer and wine will be appreciated by some of them after they hear the news. We'll need to keep an eye on my mother. She'll probably be wishing for something stronger than wine, but Tank said no hard liquor on the premises."

I placed a salad, fork and napkin in front of Lester along with a bottle of ranch dressing and turned back to get the spaghetti out of the microwave and the garlic bread that was heating under the broiler.

I poured each of us a glass of wine and sat and chatted with him while he ate. "The spaghetti sauce is wonderful, Steph! Did you do something different?"

"Nah, I made it the way you showed me. Food always tastes different when someone else makes it. I have no idea why that is."

"I guess that's true." We were completely silent for several minutes. Then Lester spoke. "You nervous about seeing Ranger?"

"Sure am. I can't hardly think about anything else," I confessed. I had to remind myself not to gulp my wine. I jumped up for a minute to make sure there was some Ben & Jerry's in the freezer in case the conversation with Lester became too intense.

"What are you going to say to him?"

"I don't know exactly," I confessed, sliding back into my chair. "I keep running through all the things I want to say to him in my mind, but then I get nervous about his reaction and start thinking, I shouldn't say this or that or I should tell him this or that. Then I worry it'll come out wrong or I'll leave out something important and I get tongue tied. It's going to be hard enough without me being a babbling idiot."

Lester smiled. "You're not going to be a babbling idiot, Steph. Look how much you've changed over the past year. You can talk about just about anything now. What's your positive affirmation for this week?"

When I first moved in and Lester started having me say positive affirmations in the mirror, he decided what I should say the first few weeks. After that, he told me _I_ should start selecting the things I wanted to work on or say each week. "This week I'm saying the same affirmation as last week, "I'm confident, wise and understanding."

"That's a good one."

"Yeah, I always try to throw the confidence thing in there, but wisdom is super important and I want to be understanding because I don't know how everyone is going to react when we tell them about our marriage and divorce. I don't want to get an attitude out of defensiveness. They have a right to be shocked or feel upset and I really want to remember to be kind to everyone and treat them with understanding."

Lester grinned at me. "You're like a different person than the one who moved in here last year, Beautiful. I'm really proud of you."

"I never would have or could have done it without you, Les. I owe you so much."

Lester laughed. "Steph, you helped me get 20 million dollars and in another 10 days or so, another 10 million from the bonus. I don't think you owe me a thing."

I shrugged. "I know, but you didn't have to go to all the effort of teaching me to cook and building my confidence and character. I really appreciate it."

He reached over and ruffled my hair. "It was my pleasure. What do you want to do tonight?

"We could play a game," I suggested.

"Okay, but not Scrabble. You always quit in the middle of the game."

"That's because almost every word you make is related to sex or genitals, Les. It gets weird after a while."

He threw his head back and laughed. "Yeah, but at least it's kept me out of the bars and off the streets for a year. That's something I owe _you_ thanks for. You've made me realize that I no longer want to run around picking up a different woman every night. I want to find one warm, loving, caring woman and spend all my nights with her. I no longer fear having an exclusive relationship or break out in hives when I think about being monogamous."

"I guess we've both changed a lot," I said as I carried his dishes and silverware to the dishwasher.

We played Monopoly for a while, but that was boring so we switched to Operation and played that until bedtime. We drank some more wine and snickered and giggled each time the other got buzzed when trying to remove a part from the patient. All in all it was a fun and relaxing time and took our minds off Friday night, just a little bit.

Friday night arrived. We'd been married a year, the divorce papers were filed and we were in the 3rd floor conference room at Rangeman greeting our guests as they wandered in and watching the caterers set everything up. I'd order enough food for three times the number of people we expected and hoped to send leftovers home with anyone that wanted some.

Once everyone arrived and was seated, I stood and looked around the large conference table. My parents were there, of course, and Val and Albert, Connie, Mary Lou and Lenny, Lula, Tank, Hal, Cal, Hector, Binky, Vince, Bobby and Grandma Mazur who made sure to get a seat next to Lester.

I looked out over the curious faces and took several deep breaths to calm my nerves. "Lester and I would like to thank all of you for coming. I know that what we have to tell you will come as a bit of a surprise to some of you and a big shock to others."

"You're pregnant!" my mother practically shouted. That caused a round of oohs and aahs and speculative glances to be cast in my direction.

I almost burst out laughing just because of nerves. "No! No, I'm not pregnant." I spent the next several minutes explaining about Lester getting the phone call about his aunt's death and the details of what he needed to do to collect the inheritance. I left out the part about giving money to Val and Albert because then my parents would know they'd been uninsured. I apologized and asked their forgiveness or at least for them to try to understand that we hadn't meant to hurt any of them.

There were looks of surprise and confusion and my mother's face was as red as a beet. I saw my father trying to get her to calm down and breathe. Hector and Hal had their arms crossed over their chests, their body language leaving no doubt about the fact that they were not sympathetic to my news.

"I'm sure some of you have questions and we'll try to answer them during dinner, if we can. Right now though ... "

"What about Batman?" Lula spoke up loudly. "Does he know about this? Where the hell is he? No one's seen him since you two run off and got married. How come he's not here?"

"Lula," I said calmly and quietly. "I'm not sure where Ranger is. I'm hoping to get a chance to talk to him soon, but I haven't been in contact with him."

"Hunh," was Lula's only reply.

"Now," I said, picking up an envelope. "I have something for each of you."

"Wait!" Val said, rising to her feet. "I understand something now that I didn't before and Stephanie is leaving out part of the story."

There were some small gasps and some accusatory glances throw in my direction. "Val, it's okay, you don't have to do this."

She put her hands on her hips and looked down and Albert who gave her a nod. "Yes, I do," she said.

"Do we even want to know?" Hal asked.

"I do," said my mother. "Not that this can get any worse.

"I think the whole truth should come out all at once," Mary Lou said.

"I agree," Lula threw in. "Don't need no more half truths at this point."

"Good," Val said. She looked around the table to make sure everyone was listening. "I'm sure most all of you know that Albert was diagnosed with cancer last year at the same time Steph and Lester got married. What Steph didn't tell you is that we were in big trouble. We had some problems and our health insurance had been canceled. Part of the reason Steph married Lester was to get the money for Albert's surgery and treatment," she said. She looked down and smiled at Albert and then her eyes cut over to our mother who was glaring at her.

"Mom," I know that's not what you want to hear - that we were uninsured, but the fact is, stuff happens and we were. I didn't know the money came from Stephanie at the time, but now I know that part of the reason she married Lester was to help me and Albert. She wired us enough money for all his care and enough for us to live on and pay the mortgage all this time Albert has been off work."

By the time she got done speaking, it was much quieter around the table than it had been. Val left her seat and came over and hugged me. An unusual occurrence for the two of us. "Thank you," she whispered in my ear. I can never, ever repay you."

"There's no need to, Val," I whispered back. "I'm just glad that Albert is okay."

Val made her way back to her chair and all eyes turned back to me. "That was very sweet and unselfish of you, Steph," Mary Lou said, with tears in her eyes. There were a few murmurs of agreement around the table.

"Look, everyone," I started speaking again. "I know that this is all a surprise to you and you'll all need time to process it. Lester and I are both hoping that some day you can forgive us. If not, we understand." I picked up the envelope again. "I have a check made out to each of you for $10,000." There were some more gasps and then silence again.

"I want you to know that I realize that just as money can't buy love and can't buy happiness, I understand that it also cannot buy forgiveness. That's not what this is about. Lester and I wanted to share part of our good fortune with each of you.

"You're each very dear to us and though we acted contrary to what some of you find acceptable, we want each of you to have this token of our appreciation for all the support and friendship you've given us over the years. If some of you don't want to accept it, that's fine. You can cash it and spend it, deposit it into your savings or cash it and give it to charity if you want to. We'll have no way to know what you choose to do with it. It's your own private decision.

"I'll pass the envelope around and you can take out your check and pass the envelope to the next person. Then, what do you say we all eat! The buffet is filled with good food and there is beer, wine and soft drinks. Thank all of you for coming."

I handed the envelope to Grandma Mazur who pulled the checks from the envelope, took the one with her name and passed the envelope on. I thought it would be in bad taste to just stand there watching everyone receive the envelope, so I looked and Lester and Grandma Mazur and said, "let's start the buffet line!"

During dinner, several people approached us and discussed everything that had taken place, but no one was mean or hurtful. Even my mother was pleasant, if not happy about the whole thing. She actually thanked us for helping Val and Albert and then walked over to scold Val about the lack of insurance.

Lula walked over with a plate of food and sat down next to me. "You the one that sent me money in the mail a few months ago?" she asked.

I'd almost forgotten all about that. "Yeah, I just wanted to help you with school a bit. I knew you'd have less time to bring in skips while attending classes."

Lula was quiet for a moment, then said, "You're all right white girl. You sent me money and din't even take no credit for being the one. I like how you helped Val and Albert too. But! What you gonna do about Batman? He done got his heart broke by this whole thing."

"I know, Lula. I'm hoping to speak to him soon to apologize. I'm not sure he'll even want to discuss it with me, but I'm going to try."

"Good. I know Batman better than you think. I'm pretty sure he'll hear you out."

"I hope you're right," I told her.

Just then, Tank walked up and put one of his big hands on my shoulder. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

I followed him out into the hallway. He gazed down at me for a moment and then smiled. "I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time, little girl. I'm still not happy about the way you and Lester handled this whole thing, but then I wasn't in your shoes and I'm pleased to know about you helping Val and Albert."

"Thanks Tank. I don't blame any of you for being angry or upset."

He reached in his pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. "This is where you'll find our badass. Get your butt there as soon as possible before you lose your nerve."

Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at the piece of paper. Did you tell him I'm coming? Should I call first? I don't know what to do!" Suddenly I was overwhelmed with nervous anticipation.

"I didn't tell him you were coming and I don't think you should call first. I think the timing on this is about as good as it could get. Book your flight and tell me when you'll be arriving. I'll give you some helpful information about hiring a car to get you to where he is. Oh, and don't tell anyone but Lester his location. He's not quite ready for anyone to know yet."

I gave Tank a hug. "Thank you, Tank. Thank you so much. I'm going to go apologize and I'll try not to screw this up."

Tank grinned. "You'll be fine, little girl. I haven't spent much time around you this past year, but if you handle yourself with him the way you did tonight, you'll do fine."

**A/N - Okay, just one more chapter after this and then two epilogues - one from Ranger's POV and one from Steph's POV. They are already written, I just need to proofread and edit them, so I should be able to have them posted by tomorrow morning, possibly even late, late tonight, I'll just have to see how it goes. Thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Wrong Man at the Right Time**

**Not mine. Not making any money.**

**Chapter 19 - Final Chapter - Stephanie's POV (on a beach in Brazil)**

The driver let me off in front of a one story salmon colored house with white trim. The yard was small, but well maintained and there was a stone path that led to the front porch, but also veered off around the side of the house.

All I had with me was a tote bag with one change of clothing, a small amount of makeup, a couple hair products and my hair brush, in addition to the regular things I carry in my purse. I didn't want to show up and freak him out by looking like I was prepared to move in, so I kept it simple.

I knocked on the door and started to worry when there was no answer. I knew I still had the number to get a hold of the driver, but was hoping not to have to call him. I also wasn't sure what kind of hassle it would be to call the U.S. on my cell phone to talk to Tank. I should have checked into international calling before I left home. Oh well, if I don't have an international calling plan, I just may have to make some expensive calls.

After knocking a second time and getting no answer, I decided to venture around to the back of the house. The back yard was a little bigger than the front yard, but not by much. I walked toward the ocean and at the back edge of the yard, the land dropped off and there were steps that led down to the beach.

I could see Ranger sitting on either a large towel or a small blanket. His back was to me and it didn't appear that he was aware of his surroundings, because he gave no indication he knew I was there.

I started down the steps which looked like they were made from discarded railroad ties and when I got to the bottom, I was only about 25 feet from him. Still he didn't move. I could tell now that he was looking at something on his lap, maybe a small laptop or notebook. His hair was long and tied back and his skin was a bit darker than I was used to seeing. I'm thinking he must spend a lot of time in the sun here. Who wouldn't? The beach was stunning with white sand as far as I could see and the water was a beautiful aqua blue.

Finally, I'd cleared the steps and was just a few feet behind him when he whipped his head around and froze. Our eyes locked and for a moment it looked like he doubted I was real. Part of me was beyond nervous, but another part of me was so happy to see him, I couldn't help but smile.

"Hi," I said, crossing the last few feet to where he sat on a blue and white knit blanket.

"Babe," he said.

"May I join you?" I asked, motioning toward the blanket.

He scanned the area behind me and I knew he must be looking for Lester. "I'm alone," I explained.

He nodded and patted a spot on the blanket beside him, his eyes never leaving my face. I sat down and crossed my legs Indian style and felt totally mute for a few minutes. All I wanted to do was drink in his beauty. I could tell he'd lost weight and it looked like he hadn't shaved for a couple of days. He was as beautiful as ever, maybe even more so. I wasn't sure if he actually looked different or if it was just because it had been so long since I'd seen his face, but my god, he was gorgeous. I'd never seen him with a two or three day growth of beard and it was sexy as hell.

"Where's Lester?" he asked right off the bat. "Does he know you're here?"

"He's either in Trenton or Princeton and he does know I'm here. After Tank finally told me where you were, Lester told me if I didn't get my ass on the next flight, he'd throw my body in the ocean and let the sharks eat me. He didn't have to tell me to come here though, I decided to do it before he even said anything. Lester and I are getting divorced."

He was silent as his eyes searched my face. I knew he was trying to determine if it was a good thing or a bad thing as far as I was concerned. I saw his eyes soften a bit and he said, "I'm sorry it didn't work out."

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. "It did work out," I told him. "Lester and I agreed to stay married for one year and we did. The year is up and we've filed for divorce."

Ranger turned so that he was facing me instead of sitting next to me. "I don't understand."

"I know," I said softly. "I'll explain it if you're interested."

"I'm interested."

Still a man of few words, and though it used to drive me crazy, it was strangely comforting now. "I'll try to give you the condensed version, then if you want any of the blanks filled in, you can ask."

He nodded.

"The night you saw us leaving for Las Vegas, I'd received a phone call from Val telling me that Albert had cancer. She was distraught. Not only because of the cancer, but because they had no health insurance. That same day, Lester received a call from an attorney, letting him know that an aunt of his had died and left him a lot of money in her will."

I paused for a moment because my throat was dry. Ranger's ESP kicked in and he turned to open a cooler behind him. He took out a bottle of water and offered it to me. I thanked him for it, took off the cap, and took a long swallow.

"There were conditions in the will," I continued. "In order for Lester to get the $40 million she was leaving him, he had to get married within two weeks of her death. He had to stay married for one year and he and his new bride would not be allowed to tell anyone the conditions of the will. That's why we couldn't tell you anything when you showed up at my apartment."

I paused to see if Ranger would respond in any way. I saw him searching my face again. "So, you married Lester to get the money for Albert's cancer care?"

I took a deep breath. "I married him to get the money for Albert and Val for the cancer treatment and so they wouldn't lose their house and would have money to live on during the time Albert couldn't work. I also did it so Lester could get his inheritance. From the time he found out about the will, he had less than two weeks to find someone he trusted enough to not spend the entire $40 million after he married her and he needed someone who would let him out of the marriage when the year was up and someone he trusted would not tell a soul the real reason he got married. He needed me and I needed him, so we worked out the details and got married."

I took another long swallow of water and looked out at the ocean. "It's beautiful here," I told him.

Ranger glanced out at the water. "I never get tired of looking at it," he confessed. He looked back at me. "How's Albert?"

It made me smile that he asked about Albert right off. "He's great. He just had another check-up a couple weeks ago. He's still cancer free."

"That's wonderful. So, it was worth it, then," he concluded.

I bit my bottom lip trying to think of the best way to answer that. "Yeah, it was worth it in more ways than one. I only have one regret and that's the fact that I couldn't tell you what was going on. And, trying to get any information out of Tank about where you were or how you were doing was like pulling teeth. No, it was worse than pulling teeth because teeth eventually let go."

"Tank was just following orders," Ranger said softly.

"I can tell you've lost weight. Have you been sick?" I asked him.

"Not sick, really. Not ill. I've gained most of it back."

"How much did you lose?" I pressed him.

He shrugged.

"Ranger, I have no idea what will happen five minutes from now or five hours from now or fifty years from now, but for however long we end up knowing each other, how about this time around we actually talk to each other? I know you know exactly how much weight you lost and how much you've gained back, so just spill it." I gave him a slight smile after I said it so he wouldn't think I was mad at him.

I saw the corner of his mouth tilt up. "Marriage made you bossy," he said with a smirk. "I lost 24 pounds, but I've gained back 16." He paused for a long time, but I waited him out. "I wasn't sick, exactly. I was just ..." He swiped a hand across his face. I knew talking about himself wasn't easy for him, but I was hoping he could learn. "I kind of had a hard time of it when you married Lester. I left Trenton and wandered from place to place for a while and I didn't take very good care of myself. Drank too much, didn't eat much. Didn't really care." He paused and finished off his bottle of water.

"Tank finally showed up one day and took me to the mats, only in this case it was the sand," he said, waving his hand to indicate the beach. "After he kicked my ass, he threatened to drag me to a rehab joint. I guess I decided that shaping up my act would actually be easier than facing his wrath again so I quit drinking and started to eat better." By the time he finished his story, he was staring at a spot on the blanket, but after a moment he looked up at me.

Tears were stinging my eyes and my heart was bursting with for love for this man. "I'm so sorry," I whispered. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"Steph, you have nothing to be sorry about. There's nothing to forgive. You can't even begin to imagine some of the things I've done for money. Marrying Lester is small potatoes compared to some of the things I've done. Everything that I went through, I did to myself. Starting from before you even married Lester. I was so damned determined to keep you out of my life, I never gave us a chance. Then, when you were actually out of my life, I fell apart. But it's all on me, not you."

"That's not true, Ranger. You helped me unselfishly from the day we met and I never gave anything back to you but worry and grief. I was selfish and immature. You'd try to protect me and I fought you every step of the way. You'd help me bring in big money skips and instead of building up a nest egg in the bank, I'd run to Macy's to buy expensive shoes. Next thing I'd know, I'd be broke again, and there you were, helping me with another skip or offering me work at Rangeman. I have no idea why you put up with me. I was such an asshole."

"Babe, don't say that."

"No!" I interrupted him. Don't you say one thing to try let me off the hook. It's true and I know that now. I'm owning it. I was always feeling sorry for myself. Poor me, my mom treated me badly. Poor me, I was broke all the time. Poor me, I didn't prepare myself well for the job and ended up hurt or covered with garbage. I continually sucked you and everyone else into one disaster after another." I paused for a minute to gather my thoughts and then blew out a sigh.

"As far as the two of us go, I never felt like I was good enough for you. Not even in the same league. I couldn't let myself believe that you loved me. Well, I knew you loved me in a friendship kind of way, but I didn't think you loved me in a romantic forever kind of way. So, every time my limited supply of confidence got rattled, I ran back to Joe where I knew what to expect. I know now that I hurt you and I'm so very sorry."

Ranger looked at my face for a long time before saying anything. "Steph, I was just as much to blame. I'm the one that actually sent you back to Morelli that one time. To do that to a woman who already lacks self-confidence was a shitty thing to do. Making a deal with you to have sex when I knew you'd need my help to bring in DeCooch was also a shitty thing to do."

"I sent you a lot of mixed signals, Steph. A woman with self-confidence wouldn't have put up with it. She would have told me to put up or shut up. A woman with very little self-confidence didn't stand a chance. I'd say something that I knew was hurtful, then hate myself for it and be even more determined not to drag you into my life. My whole world revolved around Rangeman and my government contracts, and as much as I wanted you, I have to admit that I didn't want the complications. Not on the schedule I was working. Plus, I've never been in a real relationship and I really wasn't sure I could give you what you needed and wanted. I knew you didn't care about my money and it was the only thing I really felt like I had in abundance to give you."

We were quiet for several minutes, both lost in our own thoughts. Silence still makes me a tiny bit crazy if it stretches on for too long, and I began to peel the label off my water bottle. Finally, Ranger spoke again. "Did you sleep with him in this marriage?"

I was more than a little surprised that he would just come right out and ask me that, but then I was the one that wanted him to start talking. I pressed my lips together to try to stop the smile I felt coming, but I was unsuccessful. "No, but there were some close calls. You have a woman who eats sugar and fat daily to keep her raging hormones under control and a man who spent his entire adult life being a playboy, both living in the same house for a year. It was ... difficult at times," I said with a smile.

That made him laugh out loud. "I'll bet. But you never fell in love?"

I shook my head. "No. I mean, I love Lester dearly. He's smart and funny and so much fun to be around, I can't help but love him. He spent a good chunk of the year we were together, helping me with my issues, teaching me to cook and building up my self-confidence. He also insisted on splitting his inheritance with me, although, after all he's done for me, I feel like _I owe him_. I hope he and I are friends until the day I die, but I never fell in love with him nor he with me. We actually had separate bedrooms."

Then Ranger did something I've never seen him do before. He wrinkled his brow and actually bit down on his bottom lip while he thought about what I'd said. "That's actually kind of fascinating to think about, but Lester is a lunatic if he didn't fall in love with you," he said with a wink. Before I could reply, he started talking again. "You've really have changed a lot, Steph. You got on a plane and flew all the way out here by yourself. You look at my face when you're speaking to me and you're talking about your feelings, mistakes, regrets. Amazing."

"You've changed too, Ranger. Can you believe the length of this conversation?" I asked with a laugh. "I don't think we talked this much in the whole time we've known each other."

"It feels good," Ranger said, surprising the heck out of me. "So, what other ways have you changed? Did the money change you at all?"

"Nah." I shook my head. "I think I've matured quite a bit," I told him. "But, the money hasn't really changed me. I still eat Boston creams for breakfast and peanut butter and olive sandwiches for lunch sometimes. I still break out the Ben & Jerry's when I get upset and I'd still take a meatball sub from Pino's over a lobster dinner. I do plan to make an upcoming change in my shoe budget though. Jimmy Choo and I will soon be on a first name basis."

Ranger laughed again. "And you have the legs, ankles and feet to do justice to anything Jimmy Choo can throw out there."

I felt myself blush and Ranger noticed and smiled. "I'm glad to see some things never change."

"Are you ever going to go back to Rangeman?" I asked him.

"I'm already back at Rangeman. I've been back for four months now. When we go inside I'll show you. I have everything set up in a spare bedroom. Computers, fax machines, monitors. I can actually help out with monitor duty from here. If I see something happening, I just have to hit a few keys on the keyboard to notify the control room in Trenton. I can do searches and scheduling and payroll from here too. I have all the same programs they have at the office. Hector set the whole thing up. Something with satellites and information stored in clouds. It's pretty awesome.

"Some things Tank can fax over for me to sign. If it's a contract that needs to be signed in person and witnessed, he sends it by overnight mail. I take it to my bank here to get it notorized and then send it back by overnight mail. It's a little on the expensive side, but worth it. Hector and Tank are the only two who know I'm doing this. I communicate strictly with the two of them, so I only work the monitors during hours when one of them are at the office in Trenton. I can do payroll, searches and scheduling whenever I want because I just attach the files to an email and send them to Tank."

"Wow! I had no idea."

"I only work 30-35 hours a week though. I play golf two or three times a week and go fishing twice a week. Two nights a week I work as a volunteer teaching self defense classes at a local community center. I finally figured out that life was about more than working 100 hours a week to make enough money to open the next new office. I also decided not to re-up when my government contract came up for renewal a couple months ago. I'm a free man."

When he finished explaining it all, he was smiling, and I could tell that he was happy with the new choices he'd made. I tried to picture Ranger playing golf and fishing, but couldn't really conjure up any images. "I hope I get to see those things for myself someday, I told him. "So, you really can forgive me for what I did?" I asked him.

"Babe, like I said, there's nothing to forgive. There was a time I would have married Lester for a year myself for half of forty million dollars. Of course, I would have made him sleep in the guest house," he said with a laugh.

I giggled at that. "Oh geeze, Ranger."

"You think I'm kidding, Steph? Were you listening to what I said a few minutes ago? "I've done things for money that you could never imagine. Things _you _would never consider doing. And, if I had to keep it quiet for a year or forever, so be it. I've left the country for months at a time and haven't been able to tell my family or you where I was or when I'd be back. I knew it was hurtful to everyone, but I did it anyway." He paused and then smiled at me, his brown eyes soft and relaxed and enchanting. Do you think you'd ever sleep with a stranger for money, Babe?"

"What? No! I don't think that's something I could do. Lester is pretty hot, but I couldn't even sleep with him and that would have been legal."

"This is something I never thought I'd tell you, Steph, but I once slept with a woman for a million dollars."

"Ranger, seriously? Like you would ever have to pay for sex. Please."

He threw his head back and laughed. "You misunderstood. She paid me."

I could feel my eyes widen. "A woman offered you a million dollars for sex?"

"It was several years ago. I was leaving the American Embassy in a country that shall remain nameless, when the daughter of a very wealthy dignitary approached me and asked me to dinner. I had no interest, so I politely declined. The next day, I had to go back with more information and she approached me again. That time, she offered me a million dollars to have sex with her. I never even hesitated, Steph. It was the biggest profit margin on any deal I've ever made. A million dollars for the cost of a condom. I couldn't turn it down. Babe, if there's one person in your life that knows about doing crazy shit for money, and keeping it secret, it's me." He flashed me a smile.

I smiled back at him and then took a deep breath. I needed to know where we stood. "Ranger, have I ruined things between us forever or is there a chance we could start over some day?"

The grin left his face and he turned serious. "Is that what you want, Steph? For us to start over?"

I was ninety-nine percent sure the look on his face was one of hope. "I do," I told him. I love you, Ranger, and I want more than anything for us to start over and try to be together."

In less than a second, he went from sitting with his legs crossed to up on his knees and then he dove on me, knocking me backwards onto the sand. He didn't hurt me because his arms went around me and one of them cushioned the back of my head before it hit the ground. He buried his face against my neck and held on tight.

I put my arms around him and slowly ran my hands up and down the smooth luscious skin of his back. I could have sworn that his eyes were brimming with tears as he dove on me. But that didn't make sense because Ranger doesn't cry. And then I felt it. His face was still pressed against the side of my neck and I felt the wetness of his tears. It wasn't a lot. He wasn't sobbing or anything, but there was no mistaking the small trickle that slid down the side of my neck to the back.

"Are you okay?" I asked him softly.

He didn't answer me at first, but his arms tightened around me. After a moment, I felt his warm breath against my skin as he whispered, "I am now."

_The end. _

**First** **Epilogue - Ranger's POV**

Everyone knows that life can change in the blink of an eye, but when those moments actually present themselves, we're hardly ever prepared for them.

The last thing I expected today was to look up and see Stephanie's gorgeous face and crystal-like azure blue eyes looking back at me on my peaceful little patch of beach in Brazil.

Now, here we were, sitting at opposite ends of the rectangle oak table in my kitchen. It was evening now and we'd spent the past eight hours making love and getting to know one another intimately again. There were still a million questions I wanted to ask her, but I didn't want to exasperate her on our first day back together. Can you believe it? Carlos Manoso had the urge to be chatty and was struggling to hold back!

Anyway, we were at opposite ends of the table in an effort to keep our hands to ourselves for a few minutes and talk. Every time we got within three feet of each other, one of us would reach out to pull the other close. We weren't getting any talking done and we both knew we needed to talk, although every time I gazed into her luminous eyes or was blessed by one of her scintillating smiles, it was inevitable that I would forget why we needed to talk at this precise moment in time. I knew if I contemplated it long enough, the reason would come back to me. The power she had to scramble my brain was crazy!

She was fresh from the shower, her curls still damp and her skin fragrant and dewy. I wanted to drag her back to bed and spend another eight hours or maybe eight lifetimes making love to her, holding her close. Kissing her soft lips and sinking into her wet, hot, silky center. The sound of her moans of pleasure still echoed in my ears and I knew I'd never grow tired of hearing them. She'd cried out my name so many times, I was tempted to start making notches on the bedpost to keep track, just to tease her later. I'm kidding! She's changed a lot and her new self confidence is awesome. I don't want to do one thoughtless thing to make her feel self-conscious or undermine the new Steph. Dios! I love this new Babe even more than the former Babe, if that's possible.

"I need to check the chicken," she said, rising from her chair and making her way over to the stove. "I don't want the sauce to stick to the pan. And don't panic. The sauce isn't too rich or too fattening. You'll love it."

"I'm sure I will, it smells wonderful, but I'm still trying to process the fact that Santos taught you to cook and that you actually like it!"

"Truthfully, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. There have been so many things in my life that I secretly wanted to try, but I pretended to have no interest. That way, I didn't have to make an effort and then fail."

She glanced back at me after she stirred the sauce a bit and I gave her a warm smile. "I can't tell you how proud I am of you, Steph. It's wonderful to see that you no longer assume upfront that you're going to fail at something new. Tell me another thing connected to your new self-confidence. What else will you do or try that you would never have done before?"

Her blue eyes darkened and she walked back to her end of the table. "How about if I show you instead of tell you?"

"That would be great. Show me."

She reached down to the hem of her tank top and pulled it up over her head, then tossed it on the floor. Next, she slid her terry cloth shorts down over her hips, then let them drop to the floor and stepped out of them. She wasn't wearing a bra or panties, so she was now standing across the table from me completely naked.

If that wasn't surprising enough, what she did next took my breath away. She stepped up on her chair and then climbed on top of the table and began slowly crawling toward me. It took a bit of an effort for me to swallow past my Adam's apple and my dick was instantly rock hard.

My eyes were glued to her as she slowly made her way to me, her beautiful firm breasts and curvy hips swaying gently as she moved. She was glorious and sexy and I couldn't remember ever wanting her more than I did at this moment.

She stopped in front of me, her lips a mere two inches from mine. "I never would have done _this _before," she said softly, her voice dripping with eroticism.

I gulped again and flicked my tongue out to swipe across her lips. "I don't believe you would have," I agreed, my voice husky with desire. "But now that you will, I think you should practice this at least once a month so you remember how it's done," I said with a playful smirk that made her laugh.

"Your wish is my command," she said, smiling at me warmly. "I know I can't change the hurt I caused you in the past, but I want to spend every day for the rest of my life making you happy you gave me a second chance. I won't let you down, Carlos. It won't be a one way street this time. I need you, but I don't need to be taken care of the pathetic way I did before. We can take care of each other now."

I moved my chair back a bit and then reached for her and pulled her onto my lap. My arms went around her and she rested one of her hands against my chest, the other went around my neck to steady herself. "Babe, you're beautiful and sexy and naughty and delicious and smart and sassy and perfect. I've never loved anyone the way I love you. Completely. Forever."

She kissed me softly, then looked into my eyes. "I love you too, Ranger. I have for a long time. I don't ever want us to be apart again. I don't care if it's in Boston, Miami, Trenton or Brazil, as long as you want me, I want to be wherever you are."

"Are you saying you do commitments longer than one year?" I teased her, kissing the soft skin on her neck.

"Oh, you're hysterical," she said, rolling her eyes. "I do forever commitments for the right man. Are you sure you want me forever? I'm not really perfect, like you suggested. I still hate mornings and I still hate exercise, though I do run almost every morning. _After_ 7 am."

"You run almost every day? I can't tell you what a turn-on that is, Steph." I slid one hand up her thigh and then between them. She gasped when my fingers found the right spot. She was wet and hot. Babe, it feels like your sauce is burning."

"Yeah," she grinned. "But that's not chicken, Carlos. That's pie with a sweetened glaze."

That was all I could take. I lifted her in my arms as I rose from the chair and strode over to the stove. I braced her against me with one arm and turned off the burner under the pan, then turned and headed for the bedroom. "Dinner can wait," I told her with a grin. "We're having dessert first and it's going to be good."

**Epilogue 2 - Stephanie's POV **

It was my second day in Brazil with Ranger and I was happier than I'd ever been in my life. The relief and gratitude I felt over the fact that he was so willing to forgive me was almost overwhelming. He was an adventurous badass, a savvy CEO and a gorgeous, softhearted lover all rolled into one and I couldn't love him any more if I tried.

I had just finished cleaning up the lunch dishes and went to go find him in his little office. He had tried to help with the dishes, but I shooed him away. There would never be enough I could do to make everything up to him, but I was determined to make his life as happy and carefree as possible.

When he saw me at the doorway of his bedroom-turned-office, he smiled and motioned me to come in. I started to sit in a chair across from his desk, but he held out his arms, inviting me to sit on his lap.

I leaned into him and rested the side of my face against his warm chest. "I realized something when I was living with Lester," I told him.

"What's that, mi dulzura?" (my sweetness)

"I realized that I could live in a mansion with Joe and never be happy, but I could live in a cardboard box with you and be content for the rest of my life."

"I'm glad to know that, but thankfully, between the two of us, we can afford to upgrade from the cardboard box," he said with a laugh. "Maybe to a shed or a portable building or a Barbie Dreamhouse."

"I burst out laughing. I'd never seen this side of Ranger and I was loving it. Are we going to stay here, in Brazil?" I asked him.

"Is this where you'd like to live, Babe?"

"Like I said before, I don't care where we live, as long as we're together."

Ranger ran his hand up my arm and over my shoulder and then began playing with my curls. "I like it here," he began, but I've also thought it would be a lot more convenient if I were back in the states. I've thought of actually going into Rangeman in Trenton one week a month and then the other three weeks working remotely. The first place I went when I left Trenton was Myrtle Beach. There are some nice ocean front homes in that area we could look at, if you're interested."

"Okay, but I'm not in any hurry if you're not. Just let me know when you're ready." I paused for a moment, then said, "Carlos, what time is it in Trenton right now?

He looked at his watch. "Almost 2:00pm. Why, you need to reach someone in Trenton?" he asked, picking up his SAT phone.

"I was thinking of calling Lester. He met a woman just before he and I got married and he said he felt she might be _the one_, but he never got a chance to find out. After we filed for divorce, he found her and explained everything to her. He said she was pretty stunned by it all and seemed a little wary, but she agreed to go out on a date with him. Last night would have been their first date and I want to find out how it went."

Ranger frowned. "Lester thinks he's found the one, like in ... _the one_?"

I gave a small laugh. I'd had a year to get used to the idea, but I'm sure it was pretty surprising news to Ranger. "Yep. That's what he said. He's been driving himself crazy the past year, worrying that she'd no longer be available when he got free."

"Well, by all means, give him a call," Ranger said, handing me the phone. You can put him on speaker phone when you're done speaking with him. I want to have a little fun with him."

I bit my lip and looked up at Ranger's face.

"Nothing to worry about, Babe. I promise."

"Okay," I said, deciding to trust him. I dialed Lester's number.

"Yo," he said from the other end.

"Les, it's Steph. How are you?"

"Hey, Beautiful. I was just thinking about you. You'd better be calling me from Brazil or your ass is grass."

I laughed. "I am calling from Brazil. I'm with Ranger right now."

"Sweet. Is everything okay? Are you two working things out?"

"Yep. I couldn't be happier. But, I was calling to find out how your date with Diane went."

There was no hesitation at all. "It was great. I'm seeing her again in a couple days. I really think I was right about her being they one. I can't tell you how relieved I am, Beautiful."

"I can imagine, Les. I'm relieved for you. And happy!"

"I even behaved myself," he told me. Walked her to her door, gave her a small kiss goodnight and took my poor, horny ass home."

I started giggling. "You should be used to going without by now, Les."

"Doesn't mean it's easy and doesn't mean I like it, damn it."

"It'll happen, Lester. Just hang in there. Hey, listen, Ranger wants to talk to you, so I'm going to put you on speaker phone."

There was a pause on the other end. Finally, he blew out a sigh and said, "Yeah. Go ahead."

I hit the button for speaker phone and Ranger loudly said, "Santos, on the mats, 0500!"

Lester paused again. Poor guy was so unsure of himself these days. Then he said, "You coming here Rangeman or am I coming there?"

"Ha!" Ranger said. "Santos, you show up here any time during the next thirty days and I really will kick your ass. I'm ... busy."

Lester chuckled. "I'm glad to hear that. Listen, Ranger ... "

"Can it, Lester. There's no need. I actually just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of my woman for the past year and returning her to me even better than ever."

There was a long silence on the other end. "Lester, you still there?" Ranger asked with an amused tone."

"Yeah. I'm just ... uh, stunned. Christ, I thought you'd hate me for the rest of your life. This whole past year I kept thinking that if Steph had asked you for the money for Albert, you no doubt would have given it to her."

Ranger looked down at me and our eyes locked. "Lester, I can tell you how that scenario would have played out. Steph wouldn't have asked me for the money, but I would have found out what was going on, and I would have gone behind her back to get the money to Albert and Val. Steph would have figured out the money came from me and would have felt more indebted to me than ever. It would have driven another wedge between us."

"I never thought about it like that, Rangeman. I still feel so guilty."

Ranger sighed. "Les, listen. I really can't do anything other than thank you. If you hadn't married Stephanie, she and I wouldn't be together right now. She'd probably still be picking up skips, getting covered in garbage and attracting stalkers, and I'd still be working a hundred hours a week at Rangeman, determined to keep her out of my life. I owe you, man."

"No, you don't, Ranger. I'm just really happy for the two of you. I hope I find the same kind of love soon."

"I'm betting you will," Ranger said. "Good luck with Diane. I've gotta go now, Steph and I have ... things to do."

Lester snorted. "You can leave the line open if you want," he joked.

"Not a chance, Santos," Ranger ground out, disconnecting the call.

He eased me off his lap and onto the floor, lowering himself over me. "Maybe I wouldn't marry the pervert," he said with a chuckle. "I'd marry you, though," he told me softly. "How long you want to try it for? A year, two years, a decade?" he asked with a grin.

I gave him a little laugh. "Oh, you're so funny. You're never going to let me live this down, are you?"

He placed little kisses from my temple, down the side of my face, over my jawline and then nuzzled my neck. "Nope. But one of these days I'll tell you about me getting arrested over a little rodent I mistook for Rex. Then you'll have something to hold over _my_ head."

"What! "Tell me now," I demanded.

"Nope," he said, as he sat up to pull my t-shirt up over my head.

"Yes," I insisted.

"No way," he said, tossing my t-shirt behind him. "You're not the boss of me, Babe," he said with a grin.

"How come I'm not the boss of you? You were the boss before. Maybe it's my turn now." His hands were gliding down my sides and I grabbed them and brought them up to my breasts. He looked into my eyes and I saw his darken.

"You have a point, Babe. I did get to be the boss before. But you seem pretty bossy now. Plus, I think you have more money than I do now. And more confidence, and you're sexier."

I giggled. "I'm not sure what sexiness has to do with being the boss, but no one is sexier than you," Carlos." I pulled him down to kiss him and when we finally broke apart to catch our breath, I said, "Tell me now."

He grinned and reached for the waistband of my shorts and slid them down over my hips and legs. "Make me."

"Oh, I'll make you," I told him.

He unhooked the front clasp on my bra. "Babe, all this chit-chat is cramping my style."

That made me laugh out loud. "What's your style, Carlos?"

"My style is to have part of me fitted snugly inside part of you," he said huskily.

"I think you should be quiet, now," I whispered. "Whatever you were insisting on trying to tell me will just have to wait," I said, pulling his face down to mine again.

He cupped my face with his hands, his lips just a few inches from mine. "I'll tell you right now, if I want to," he teased.

"Okay." I snorted at his silliness. I'd never known him to be so playful and I really did want to hear the story.

"But, I don't want to," he said, his mouth crashing down on mine.

**A/N That's it, my friends. I hope you like how it ended. Thanks so much for following along. If you have a moment, please drop me a review. I love hearing from you and reading what you have to say. **

**If you like my style of writing, I have a romance/suspense novel on Kindle called Fortune Bagels. I'm currently working on a sequel for it. If you like the Ranger/Steph pairing, I think you'll really like my Maggie/Jake pairing.  
**


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